Disproportional parking fines

[NameChangeParkingProblem]

Feeling frustrated and need to vent. I’ve received multiple parking fines that feel excessive, and honestly, I’m barely holding it together.

First, the Dartford Crossing, which is £1 each way. I drove over the bridge for a holiday trip with my children, and made a mental note to pay later. I hadn’t given it thought prior to the trip, as I didn’t realise it was chargeable over and above road tax. By the time we got to the camping site, I totally forgot about the road fine. There was no payment barrier as there is for the Birmingham bypass.

Another is from picking up a friend from the train station. She had used public transport and had luggage which she couldn’t bring all the way to the car park, even with my help (heavy and she hurt her leg on the journey). I left her at the station and drove to the taxi rank to be able to put her luggage in my car. Then got a parking fine of £170.

Two other ones from broken payment machines, both of which I called the phone number on the machine and left a message. I missed the 14 day response deadline for both, because I’m super busy working full time while being here for my children. I really honestly don’t have time to prepare a defence, on top of everything else. So both attracted a £80 fine each.

I accept that I didn’t follow the rules and that the fines are legitimate. However, it’s just exhausting to try to get about life, and the fines themselves are very high.

Am I being unreasonable that parking fines are not proportionate? If so, can someone in government please take note, as I’m sure that there are many more people dealing with this. My salary isn’t high enough to support this, so I now tell friends to get a taxi; I don’t go out as much, etc.

Heh, luckily for everyone, I don't drive. But I do ensure DP has all the necessary apps set up.

but you started your post specifically saying "I agree OP" but she wasn't fined for any of the things you say you agree with - people being penalised for an avoidable or easily made mistake while driving or parking. She was fined for forgetting to pay a toll she knew about, for deliberately stopping somewhere she knew she wasn't supposed to, and then for not challenging fines she could have disproved.

I agree with you that often authorities are too quick to fine for genuine mistakes but even if someone sorted such instances out with "the government" as OP wants, it wouldn't help her because none of her fines were unfair. You don't have to guess the exact circumstances, level of signage etc. because OP has specified them. She isn't saying "I didn't know you had to pay the toll" or "The taxi rank wasn't marked", she knew she wasn't supposed to stop there but she did. She isn't saying she wasn't given a chance to appeal an unfair fine, she's admitted they gave her a 2 week chance, both times, and she couldn't be arsed to sort it.

At some point people have to take responsibility for their own actions!

If you phone Dartford Crossing, they’re usually really reasonable. I’ve paid the £2.50 after the deadline more than once. I have ADHD and honestly, I rack up £££ in this kind of thing every year. Automate whatever you can, London Congestion Charge, Dartford, all of it.
Private parking fines are the worst, but most of them end up with debt collectors eventually, and at that point you can usually set up a direct debit and pay a token amount. It’s grim, but manageable.

You used to be able to challenge punitive private parking charges / fines with POPLA because they were "not a genuine pre-estimate of loss". Not sure if that flies now though. Look at Private Parking forums for ideas if you can appeal those two, if the machines were genuinely broken.

Other than that, there's no such thing as road tax, you are paranoid about data selling in the age of GDPR, and "it's not my fault I forgot", are not excuses that most people sympathise with. Adult up!

YABU for calling the m6 toll the Birmingham Bypass, what sort of name is that?

I don't know anyone else who has the number of fines you have. I think there's a common theme..

The Dart Charge is to manage demand. It is basically to discourage some people from using it to prevent the sort of congestion it was built to reduce.

There are quite a few roads in the UK that require payment for one reason or another. I’ve paid twice to cross the Mersey today and one of those crossings required me to go online to pay.

Road tax doesn’t pay for roads and hasn’t directly since 1936. It isn’t called road tax anymore - although annoyingly the government still use that name in some literature. It’s Vehicle Excise Duty and it is basically a tax on the emissions that your car is capable of making. Money collected goes into the big pot of tax collected and can be spent wherever the government chooses to spend it.

The Dart Charge is to manage demand. It is basically to discourage some people from using it to prevent the sort of congestion it was built to reduce.

that ain’t working out so well is it 😂😂 seems to be getting worse since the knightmayor started charging for the Blackwall tunnel

Just imagine the delays if there were kiosks at Dartford.

A peage token scheme would be great to have here but we aren't joined up enough.

Having a fantasy now about magical tolls on the A3 that allow traffic to flow freely.

The QE bridge was HELL before they got rid of the kiosks. Its taken at least an hour off the time it takes.

The dartford crossing hasn’t been £1 since the 90’s 😂 it’s £2.50 but yeah I don’t understand why we have to pay to use it at all. Remember when it was built they said as soon as building costs were recouped it would be free?!? Instead we sold it to France. That’s right France own our toll road. We should start recharging them for all the dingies they allow and even encourage to land on our beaches!!!! Save billions

Umm..because bridges and tunnels like that are hugely expensive to maintain and not used by most drivers so those that do, pay for the upkeep. It's literally always been chargeable and there are massive and frequent signs. It's much easier now than back when you had gridlocked toll booths and scrabbled around for change.
I do agree the apps are both a blessing and a problem. I've had to set them up on my parents ' phones, add in their reg numbers etc as they got caught out in poor signal areas and are not tech savvy. There should always be a low tech way to deal with things.

Yes but there’s also signs that tell you so if you didn’t already know then you do.

There are signs everywhere for the dartford crossing. This suggests to me you are not only a deliberate rule breaker that expects to get off and park where you want or you are blind / observant so should be off the road completely!!!!!! Worrying

Your posts are full of excuses as to why you can't just pay the fees. You need to be better organised.

Also YABU to think that someone "in government" is going to pick up on a post on MN.

So you have got many fines for parking in places you shouldn't. On balance I have never had a parking fine because I follows the rules. It's not them. It's you OP.

There used to be kiosks at dartford crossing - it also used to be free after 10pm!

It is incredibly well signposted for miles both sides of the crossing that you need to pay, so not sure how OP missed it.

They are also incredibly reasonable with cancelling fines, I’ve had loads cancelled!

Much more than the congestion charge 😂😂😂

Nope. If you can wade through the ads:

https://www.kentlive.news/news/kent-news/drivers-say-dartford-crossing-owned-2415752

Agree on the Dartford Crossing.

If you're on holiday, returning from holiday, you're potentially on a long journey. Yes, there are reminders but you have to remember somehow.

And it's easy to forget even to remind yourself when you're on a long holiday journey.

Same for the Tyne Tunnel. It's something you have to remember to do.

Much prefer the peage in France when you have to pay there and then.

I've seen that sign, usually on a trip to France. So it's been a long trip down, you do the bridge and then you are going to Dover. I can see how people can forget they have to pay for a crossing they did a few hours ago, along with everything else they have to remember on holiday.

Now I pay for crossings in advance, just part of the holiday routine.

Last year I forgot to pay the Dart Charge and received the fine letter, but when I logged on to pay, it recognised me as a new user and that it was the first time I had forgotten to pay. The fine was automatically reduced to £2.50.

I've had 3 Dartford fines rescinded - and as others have said, it's £2.50 not £1. There are big signs up to warn you. You sound unbelievably dozy. If a parking machine is broken and you can't pay via an app, you can't just park there for free.

How come you had 3 Dartford fines rescinded?

I think the OP has a point, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to go anywhere without having to double, triple check everything. Whilst there are often signs, and honestly OP driving through a well established toll tunnel and not paying is on you, in many places it’s easy to not notice signs when you’re trying to navigate. Bristol is a good example of this, speed restriction zones, traffic charge zones etc. It’s up to the user to check it as you won’t get an email if you’ve wandered into the zone. Companies and councils are raking it in for example Heathrow is now in the ULEZ so that’s £18 plus the drop off of £6 to just take someone to the airport!

Personally I find it stressful and annoying that I have to plan every trip now to check these things, have various apps for parking etc. However I don’t want fines so I plan.

I'm confused - you say why on earth would anyone think a road in England requires payment BUT then you say "I've paid for the Birmingham bypass which has a toll". So it's not unexpected in England for you, clearly.

Google maps will also tell you a toll is on your route.

The crossing has so many signs in advance. Hopefully you can waive that one (when I use it I'm usually going back within 24 hours so I pay both in between) but these are on you I'm afraid.

Because I'd paid 2 of them just outside the deadline, and had a Dart tag for the 3rd one but had forgotten to update my vehicle.