Eight in ten drivers who appeal against Dartford Crossing fines have their tickets ripped up - but thousands just pay up
- Only one in 25 of those fined bother to appeal
- Experts warn the new toll system is in chaos
- New electronic system was introduced in December
- Fine is £70 - halved if paid within a fortnight
More than eight out of ten drivers who have appealed against controversial fines imposed by cameras at the Dartford Crossing have had their penalties ripped up in the first six months, new figures reveal. Yet only one in 25 (4 per cent) of those who get a ticket bother to appeal.
The disparity suggests thousands of drivers are being unfairly fined but just ’paying up’ and that the tolled road bridge and tunnel system is ‘in chaos’, say experts.
The damning figures are revealed from a Freedom of Information request by motoring magazine Auto Express.
Auto Express notes: ‘Drivers appealing against fines for non-payment at the Dartford Crossing have an 81 per cent success rate in the first six months since the DartCharge was brought in.’
New system: There are no longer toll booths at the Dartford Crossing, but experts have warned the new system is 'in chaos'
It says more than 25 million drivers have used the Thames crossing to the east of London during chargeable hours (6am to 10pm) since the system came in on 1 December, with nearly one million of them landing a fine. Yet of these, only 4 per cent have appealed, despite the high success rate.
In total, 37,751 penalty charge notices (PCNs) were challenged and 30,521 of those were accepted by Highways England.
The crossing was previously operated by toll booths with drivers having to pull up and pay before being let through. But now drivers must pay in advance – online, by telephone otr at some shops – and the system uses Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras to police cars going through the ‘’free flow system.’
Those deemed not to have paid are photographed and the fines sent to the drivers’ homes. But the camera system been criticised by drivers for misreading letters and incorrectly sending out charges.’ The fine is £70 – halved if paid within 14 days – plus the toll price. First-time offenders, accounting for 40 per cent of the total, get a warning letter.
A spokesman for Highways England defended the high appeal rate. He said: ‘Representations are accepted for a variety of compelling reasons and each is considered on an individual basis. The amount of penalty charge notices successfully appealed makes up only 0.1 per cent of total chargeable crossings.’
But Auto Express editor in chief Steve Fowler said: ‘If this is a sign of the sorts of technology that could be used for road tolls in the future, it’s a pretty poor start. Drivers are obviously confused by the toll, which is compounded by a system that doesn’t work. And weren’t we promised that the tolls would be removed once the crossing was paid for?’
It comes as the AA also highlighted widespread confusion over the new toll system.
The AA says millions of UK drivers remain ‘unaware of and confused’ by the new electronic charging scheme at the Dartford crossing. Almost three out of every five drivers who encounter the large ‘C’ sign on the M25 take it to refer to the London congestion charge zone when it actually is supposed to indicate the DartCharge toll for crossing the Thames on the north-eastern side of the M25.
Drivers in London (87 per cent), the South East (70 per cent), and Eastern England (63 per cent) are most likely to be misled into not fully appreciating the sign’s meaning, according to a new AA Populus poll.
More than half (52 per cent) of respondents across the UK said they were not aware of the charging scheme. This included a lack of awareness at in regions very close to the crossing; London (28 per cent), South-East (27 per cent) and East Midlands (53 per cent). It was only in East Anglia and Essex where awareness levels reached a peak of 82 per cent.
The AA said: ‘Drivers unaware of the scheme are suddenly confronted with the sign at this very busy location. They can become confused and hesitant but may quickly forget once they have passed the vital charging point.
To add to the confusion, the ‘C’ sign is not officially recognised as a sign for a ‘tolled’ roads in the Department for Transport’s ‘Know your Traffic Signs – Official Edition.
The AA’s head of roads policy Paul Watters said: The ‘C’ sign has come to stand for ‘confusion’.
‘It is bad enough trying to use an existing sign with a specific purpose to mask what is in effect a revenue-raising scheme. However, presenting drivers who are unfamiliar with the Dartford stretch of the M25 with a puzzle, while they are supposed to be concentrating on a busy road, is very poor.’
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