Thieving Ba****s

[Nanu]

Today I have had to pay £60 in fines to the rouges operating the Tyne Tunnel. No longer do they have toll booths, you have to go online and pay in advance or within 24 hrs of using the tunnel.

It was my own fault, I thought my good lady wife had paid and she thought I had, but neither of us had. An honest mistake made by many so I am told. So when the charge notice landed on the doormat it was for each leg of the return journey even though they were less than an hour apart. £60 fine each way but discounted if we paid within 14 days.

I appealed to their sense of fairness, fully admitted my error and asked them to be reasonable a delete one of the fines. Total waste of time, received today, two emails obviously from a template response to all appeals.

Just to add insult to injury a little message on the end of the email notifying me that charges had increased from the 1 May from £1.90 per journey to £2.20

[buzyg]

Living but a mile from a Toll bridge, you have my sympathies. Grinds my goat that we also subsidise the ferry.

[MikeyH]

Everything these days is take take take.

[Pondrew]

I had it a few years ago on the Dartford crossing. Forgot to pay when I got home. Then realised a day after. So paid it. Too late apparently!
Got the fine through the post. Told them I wasn't paying it as I had already paid. Late, but paid. They said it doesn't matter it was late so you have to pay the fine. I said "OK, you give me my toll fee back and I will pay the fine". They said they couldn't do that. So I said "OK well I'm not paying the toll AND the fine". Nothing for a month, then a letter in the post saying "in this instance we are rescinding the fine but don't do it again". I did it again! Same outcome.
The car I was in was leased so the lease company sent me an invoice for an "admin charge" for dealing with the letters and passing my details on. I didn't pay that either!

I was sent a fine once for a traffic light camera. The picture showed my van across the junction with the lights on red. I sent an essay back about how my van was loaded with tools so I thought it was dangerous to stop at the lights, etc, etc (which it was). Never heard a thing after sending it back.

Play hard they soon give up IME. They focus on the easy money, not the difficult.

[N4LLY]

I have a Dart tag for Dartford. Auto tops up with £10 when i go under £ 10 on the account.
They sent a sneaky email saying they were closing the account due to under use (Pandemic)
Luckily i actually read it and reactivated it otherwise i would have been picking up fines post Covid.
They would rather fine you than collect a Toll

Poor guy....

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/exp ... ments.html

Toll should have ended when the contruction costs were paid, that was 15 years ago

[Nanu]

Its the threat of having to pay double if you don't pay up within 14 days that annoys me.

I understand where Pondrew is coming from but didn't want to take the chance with this lot. Apparently even the local MP has campaigned against this system without any luck.

I have challenged and won several parking fines but there is a legal get out clause, so they don't fight you, but this???

With the fee going up, it's just about worth it to go around via Newcastle bridge so will be doing that in the future.