DIR Return Create A Forum - Home
---------------------------------------------------------
FreeTrafficLegalAdvice
HTML https://ftla.createaforum.com
---------------------------------------------------------
*****************************************************
DIR Return to: Civil penalty charge notices (Councils, TFL and so ...
*****************************************************
#Post#: 32395--------------------------------------------------
DART Charge certificate final demand
DIR By: EmmaP
Date: August 6, 2024, 5:31 am
---------------------------------------------------------
Hi,
I went through the DART on 23 June Southbound and forgot to pay
the DART charge until 29 June when I paid it immediately and
have an emailed receipt. I have just received a Charge
Certificate requesting £107.50 - it is the first communication
I've had from them. Can somebody advise what to do as it seems
very unfair that due to their inefficiencies or Royal Mail's
inefficiencies I'm denied an appeal and am being penalised for
forgetting (in my 50's and I cant help it).
The notices are on my Google drive link below - hopefully easy
to access as the site is full otherwise.
Thanks in advance
HTML https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1inyWrUXklGbzvj8jYpVrNgnA1v-pHfeV?usp=sharing
#Post#: 32401--------------------------------------------------
Re: DART Charge certificate final demand
DIR By: fraser.mitchell
Date: August 6, 2024, 6:13 am
---------------------------------------------------------
Is the address on the Charge Certificate correct in every way ??
Reason to ask is because DART obtain the name and address from
the DVLA and use it for all of the statutory enforcement
documents. Yet you don't mention anything about the Penalty
Charge Notice, also sent by post to the same address.
No harm will be done by contacting DART to tell them you did not
receive the original PCN, and also to tell them you did pay the
toll, albeit a few days late.
Two things....
1. You can get the matter reset to the PCN stage by waiting for
DART to register the CC at the Traffic Enforcement Centre,(TEC),
and then submit a Witness Statement to TEC that you did not
receive the PCN. This is a simple box-ticking exercise, but care
is needed when filling in the form to make sure it's not
rejected. If you want to take them to the TPT, then it is
essential that you submit such a Witness Statement to get back
to the PCN, or you cannot register an appeal at the TPT
2. Their PCN and also their management of them came under notice
at the Traffic Penalty Tribunal in 2018 and they lost the
adjudication. This is quite a complex adjudication, so you need
to read it in full, however, I am posting up the relevant text
as an extract: -
--- Quote ---
> Adjudicator's Reasons
> Mr Moran paid the £3 crossing charge at 23:20 on 14 January
2018, which was a day later than the time required for payment.
However, on 19 January 2018 Dart Charge sent him a penalty
charge notice stating he should pay either £38 within 14 days or
£73 within 28 days.
>
> Mr Moran made representations saying he had paid the crossing
charge and produced the
> receipt for payment.
>
> Dart Charge rejected the representations saying, “Our
investigations show that whilst you did make payment of the RUC
in respect of the above contravention, this payment was not made
until after midnight on the day following your crossing.” They
therefore accepted that the crossing was paid, but they go on to
say. “Your late payment(s) will be held as credit against your
vehicle for future crossing(s). You must now make payment for
the full amount outstanding in respect of the above mentioned
PCN(s), including the original road user charge, as shown at
> the bottom of this notice.”. The amount payable at the end of
the Notice of Rejection is £73.
>
> Regulations 7(3)(g) and (f) require the penalty charge notice
to state:
> (f) the amount of penalty charge that is payable if the
penalty charge is paid in full—
> (i) within 14 days of the day on which the penalty charge
notice is served;
> (ii) after the expiry of such 14 day period but within 28 days
of the day on which the penalty charge notice is
> served;
> (iii) after the service of a charge certificate;
> (g) the manner in which the penalty charge must be paid and
the address to which payment of the penalty charge
> must be sent.
>
> The clear intention is to set out clearly the amount of the
penalty charge to be paid, and give equally clear instructions
as to how to pay the relevant amount.
>
> While the PCN in this case dealt with the amounts of the
penalty charge, according to when
> they would be paid, it also stipulated that:
> “In addition to the penalty charge you must also pay the
applicable road user charge of £3.”
> And the PCN further required Mr Moran to pay £38 or £73 (the
relevant penalty charge with
> £3 added), without an option to pay just the penalty charge.
>
> There is no power in Regulation 7 for the PCN to require the
road user charge to be paid in
> addition to the penalty charge. Nor is there a power for the
charging authority to refuse to
> allocate a payment made for a crossing to that crossing, and
hold it, possibly indefinitely, for
> future use. (my bold)
>
> It is not in dispute that Mr Moran had paid the £3 crossing
charge, as evidenced by his receipt
> dated 14 January 2018 for the £3 payment, and accepted by Dart
Charge. It is all very well to set out the amounts of the
penalty charge, but the impact and effect of the PCN is to
demand an amount that is in excess of the penalty charge, and it
implies that payment of £38 or £73 is the only amount that will
be accepted.
>
> The requirement for Mr Moran to pay the crossing charge in
addition to the penalty charge, on both the PCN and NOR, when he
had already paid it, amounts to a procedural impropriety on the
part of the charging authority (known as Dart Charge). That is a
ground of appeal that means that Mr Moran is not liable to pay
the penalty charge. He did pay the crossing charge, albeit a day
late, so he is not liable to pay that again.
>
> Caroline Sheppard
> Chief Adjudicator
> 13/06/2018
>
--- End Quote ---
So far, as far as we know, this adjudication has never been
subsequently challenged by any organisation enforcing PCNs
issued under the road user charging regulations. These include
councils with low emission zones, (CAZs). From what we can see
these organisations know full well their PCNs are unlawful and
have been extremely reluctant to let the matter get to
adjudication.
Here are the relevant regulations: -
HTML https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/1783/contents/made
#Post#: 32409--------------------------------------------------
Re: DART Charge certificate final demand
DIR By: EmmaP
Date: August 6, 2024, 7:00 am
---------------------------------------------------------
Thank you for your response. I did not receive the original PCN
at all. I will call DART and see what they say in the first
instance.
#Post#: 32417--------------------------------------------------
Re: DART Charge certificate final demand
DIR By: EmmaP
Date: August 6, 2024, 7:22 am
---------------------------------------------------------
Hi,
I've just had the most appalling conversation with someone who
mumbled and slurred and said the best he could do was charge me
£37.50. He then said I could appeal on the website. He said the
email address was on the letter which it wasn't. I am shocked at
his lack of professionalism.
I can however appeal on the website and he said forgetting to
pay on time will not work as an appeal.... therefore what should
I appeal.....? Will the Charge Certificate be reset to PCN
stage? And then what? Are they likely to overturn it on late
payment. I've just had my car broken onto and paid out for new
window and cant afford all this mess. I used to have an account
but as I didn't use it for a year they cancelled it and sent me
a PCN while holding onto my money. The whole thing is a
nightmare.
#Post#: 32422--------------------------------------------------
Re: DART Charge certificate final demand
DIR By: H C Andersen
Date: August 6, 2024, 7:47 am
---------------------------------------------------------
IMO, do not appeal. You don't have a full set of facts i.e. you
don't have a PCN to review. As posted below, you are in an ideal
position to test their procedures to the full, so don't drop out
half way and potentially let them off the hook.
Post the receipt for your payment pl. if you redact any info pl
tell us its nature e.g. your name and address, your VRM etc.
Facts:
PCN issued 3 July;
You have evidence that you paid the road user charge for the
crossing in question on 29 June.
The charge certificate states:
'If you pay within Penalty Charge Road user charge
Total to pay
14 days of service £105 £2.50
£107.50
If you do not pay within 14 days from the date of service you
will get a court order.
I wonder what an OfR would state?
You are an ideal guinea pig! Why?
Because you can wait for/there's nothing else to do until you
receive the OfR and file a statutory declaration that you did
not receive the PCN. We would then see what 'debt' has been
registered by DART.
IMO, in general they are entitled to recover the road user
charge but not as if it were the penalty charge i.e. not under
the same procedure. Hitherto in the procedure it could be argued
that DART are just the right side of the line i.e. the
'standard' PCN refers to 'penalty charge' increasing for £105
and that a CC will be issued. But with the CC it states in the
context of 'Total to pay'
'If you do not pay within 14 days from the date of service you
will get a court order.'.
For £105.00+ £10(debt registration fee), yes. But not £117.50,
this would be improper. Using the adjudicator's language payment
of the RUC is clearly an implied requirement when in law it may
not.
The other issue in your case is that you paid the RUC before the
PCN was issued which, if your receipt proves that this should be
allocated to your vehicle in respect of this specific crossing,
means IMO that no RUC is due. What they might be trying to do is
to treat your payment as a credit against a future crossing and
still demanding a retrospective payment under the CC.
IMO sharp practice at best, unlawful at worst.
Anyway, you cannot appeal a CC so pl post your receipt pl.
Do not concern yourself about an Order for Recovery. If you
submit your Statutory Declaration in time(tick one box, easier
than falling off the Dartford bridge) the OfR would be revoked,
the CC cancelled and a new PCN issued. See the legal procedure
set out here:
HTML https://www.londontribunals.gov.uk/ruc/understanding-enforcement-process#sd
But it's your choice.
#Post#: 39150--------------------------------------------------
Re: DART Charge certificate final demand
DIR By: EmmaP
Date: October 2, 2024, 6:27 am
---------------------------------------------------------
I finally received the original PCN and paid it
*****************************************************
Page 1 of 1