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#Post#: 104951--------------------------------------------------
Is there no way of recliaming overpaid congestion charge and sil
vertown/blackwall tolls?
By: Plywood-Enthusiast Date: January 7, 2026, 8:24 am
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Not me. I have auto pay set up.
But an inexperienced driver from East London, drove to hyde park
(west London). We all drive in a big group with our families
there. And mmost of us knew how to avoid the czone. One party
was not sure - new driver, not aware of geography, just follow
the satnav type of person. So for the sake of avoiding a PCN
they paid £15. There is no way of knowing if you entered the
czone or not if you dont have an autopay account. We all
suspected he probably didn't but put it to him that if he's not
sure if he's gone in or not, he should probably pay.
We suspect its more likely he didnt cross into the zone. Is this
charge reclaimable?
Similarly when the silvertown toll first opened, the same driver
::) drove through the tunnel to pick up his teenage daughter
from a concert at the 02. It was all new so nobody really knew
the precise timing of the tolls. This was in its infancy, after
reviewing a day later, and checking the hours of enforcement, it
turns out they went through after 10pm so it was toll free then.
But they paid for 2 trips @£4, total of £8 when they owed
nothing.
It seems absurd that with the data and systems they have they
dont have any means to just check if you need to pay the toll
and just pay what you owe. Instead of guessing and overpaying,
because most reasonable people will pay the £10-£15 to avoid a
£80 PCN.
#Post#: 104998--------------------------------------------------
Re: Is there no way of recliaming overpaid congestion charge and
silvertown/blackwall tolls?
By: stamfordman Date: January 7, 2026, 12:19 pm
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In a word, no.
If you think about it, it would open the floodgates for everyone
to put in a claim in the hope their vehicle wasn't detected.
Your comment about the tunnel toll time being unknown makes no
sense as you then say it was looked up the next day.
You can reclaim prepaid batches of charges for future days.
#Post#: 105002--------------------------------------------------
Re: Is there no way of recliaming overpaid congestion charge and
silvertown/blackwall tolls?
By: Plywood-Enthusiast Date: January 7, 2026, 1:04 pm
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[quote author=stamfordman link=topic=9402.msg104998#msg104998
date=1767809974]
In a word, no.
If you think about it, it would open the floodgates for everyone
to put in a claim in the hope their vehicle wasn't detected.
Your comment about the tunnel toll time being unknown makes no
sense as you then say it was looked up the next day.
You can reclaim prepaid batches of charges for future days.
[/quote]
next day = next few days. Dont know the exact time. in any case
we looked it up after it was paid and turned out that it was
toll free. FOr some reason I also assumed it was 24 hours like
ulez - because there were all sorts of talk going around whther
to make it 24/7 peak time and everything inbetweem.
They paid over the phone for two crossings that evening. They
are not tech savvy so they didnt have a tfl account. Just paid
over the phone to the tfl rep.
autopay allows for free crossings with plate not being detected,
you just wont be charged. it's not an advantage non-account
holders have over account holders. In fact at the moment account
holders have that advantage over non-account.
I think its really comes down to nobody is bothered to push for
these individuals who possible have paid millions over the years
to tfl on charges they werent suppose to pay. Most people who
drive close the czone will just register for autopay to avoid
being overcharged.
non londers when approaching london will see warnings
everywhere, red C with signs "toll charges ahead, pay by x" A
lot of people will just pay because they'll see all the warnings
and think they may have gone into the zone. These red C warning
signs are miles away from the c zone. For non-londoners they
will get confused seeing the red C everywhere.
#Post#: 105074--------------------------------------------------
Re: Is there no way of recliaming overpaid congestion charge and
silvertown/blackwall tolls?
By: roythebus Date: January 8, 2026, 6:18 am
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I'm a non-London dweller, but have an autpay account for TfL and
Dartford Crossing just to be sure wherever I go in the area I'm
less likely to get clobbered for a PCN.I wonder how many
££millions TfL have on their books in pre-paid deposits?
#Post#: 105204--------------------------------------------------
Re: Is there no way of recliaming overpaid congestion charge and
silvertown/blackwall tolls?
By: stamfordman Date: January 9, 2026, 8:22 am
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They give you 3 days to pay the charges/tolls so you don't have
to pay on the day.
As I said if you've prepaid batches of charges you can get
refunds but not for a single day booked in advance.
Every day, many pay for things they don't use. Sometimes you can
resell things such as event tickets or get a credit but as I
also said there is no way TFL can open the floodgates to claims
for unused charges as people will just put in spurious claims
hoping they were not detected.
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