Congestion charge query

stockportaddick

I cannot find the answer to this anywhere so wondered if anyone on here could enlighten me?

I drove in London recently on a Thursday and forgot to pay the fine, the charge went up to £14 on the Friday but I only remembered to pay on the Saturday morning. When I went to pay, I was asked for the £14 and there was no mention of a fine. I thought phew, I won one there.

However, one week later I received a fine for non payment of £65.

My question is, does the £65 include the actual congestion charge or should the fine have been reduced by the £14 I had already paid? In truth, it was a late payment and not non payment. I know £14 is not a lot in the grand scheme of things, but its the principle.

Cheers

golfaddick

I believe the £65 is the fine for paying it late. You would have had to pay the £14 in any case & so the fine is on top. No principle here at all. You were late in paying the original charge & therefore was fined. It may have just been better not to pay the charge once is was a day late & saved yourself £14, but you live & learn, like I did below;

I have recently been fined £60 (reduced down from £100 by paying it within 14 days - cheeky buggers!) for parking in a hotel car park. Local Holiday Inn where I often meet reps & sales managers as its close to home & on the junction of the M20/M26 & have never had to pay anything before. Penalty notice arrived the other week saying that it is now a pay & display car park & as I clearly hadn't bought a ticket I would be fined. I didn't see any notice when I drove in & there are no "pay & display" machines in the car park either - I believe you pay by phone or at the machine in the foyer (which I didn't see either). No mention of this by any of the staff who served me (as I said, it must be a very new operation as I go there every couple of months) & I thought a big notice when you walk in saying "there is now a charge to park here". I had though about appealing or complaining to the hotel, but in the end decided just to pay up. What is most annoying about all of this is that the hotel is not near a railway station, shopping precinct, airport or anywhere else that you would think would make people other than hotel guests want to park there. Certainly wont be using the hotel ever again or even the Holiday Inn chain. Muppetts

RodneyCharltonTrotta

golfaddick said:

I believe the £65 is the fine for paying it late. You would have had to pay the £14 in any case & so the fine is on top. No principle here at all. You were late in paying the original charge & therefore was fined. It may have just been better not to pay the charge once is was a day late & saved yourself £14, but you live & learn, like I did below;

I have recently been fined £60 (reduced down from £100 by paying it within 14 days - cheeky buggers!) for parking in a hotel car park. Local Holiday Inn where I often meet reps & sales managers as its close to home & on the junction of the M20/M26 & have never had to pay anything before.

Golfie Collymore ;-)

swords_alive

An appeal to popla, the car parking ombudsman could get you a result. Sounds like you have a case there @golfaddick , unless you paid already? You have to appeal to the thieving b'stards first to get an appeal reference number to take to popla. I just won an appeal for a ticket at an Erith car park run by 'smart parking'. Well happy..

https://www.popla.co.uk/poplahowto