Drivers obtain fines regardless of by no means utilizing crossing

Drivers from throughout the UK have acquired fines for unpaid journeys on the Dartford Crossing regardless of by no means having been there, the BBC has realized.

The problem appears to be brought on by Automated Quantity Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras wrongly figuring out autos with comparable licence plates.

It follows a BBC East Investigation into issues with the Dart Cost system brought on by switching to a brand new supplier in July 2023.

Nationwide Highways stated: “In a minority of circumstances penalty costs are issued in error. The place this occurs, the cost might be cancelled as quickly as a buyer contacts us to tell us they don’t seem to be the registered keeper of the automobile.”

Anne Marie Kenyon, a deputy headteacher from Bury, Larger Manchester, obtained two fines within the publish, one in April and an additional one in June this 12 months.

She was confused as a result of she has by no means used the crossing.

Her licence plate begins DV and on the primary event the automobile utilizing the crossing had a quantity plate with DY initially; the second time the plate started with OV.

Ms Kenyon stated on each events the images supplied on the penalty cost discover had been “fairly blurred and onerous to learn”.

The primary wonderful was simple to cope with as a result of it was in the course of the Easter holidays and she or he was in a position to telephone the helpline right away.

The second was harder and she or he discovered it “so irritating” to try to clear her title and felt “the best way [she] was handled was poor”.

Though each fines had been cancelled she stated she is now nervous about whether or not it is going to occur once more.

The agency accountable for managing “highway consumer charging” on the crossing is Conduent Public Sector UK Ltd, which gained a £150m contract from Nationwide Highways in 2021.

The contract consists of “provision and operation of roadside gear to allow detection and identification of autos”.

Final 12 months, 55 million journeys had been revamped the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge and the Dartford Tunnel, so these errors characterize a tiny variety of the crossings.

For Eleanor Vousden the scenario was extra sophisticated as a result of though she lives in Berkshire, she commonly visits her mother and father in Dartford, Kent.

However when she acquired a notification to say she had used the crossing on Christmas Eve, she knew it was flawed.

The automobile pictured was remarkably much like hers, a silver Honda Jazz, whereas Eleanor drives a silver Honda CRG.

The quantity plates had been an identical apart from the final letter, hers is a G, the place the final letter on this plate was a C.

She stated she had a very good expertise when she contacted Dart Cost and the crossing price was dropped right away.

However she questioned “how usually such errors happen and whether or not folks do trouble to examine, if they can not bear in mind the place they had been”.

However not everybody that contacted the BBC was a sufferer of mistaken id.

Mike Adams from Rochester acquired a wonderful for a automobile as a result of the ANPR cameras couldn’t learn the quantity plate.

He works for Paktech Ltd, a small agency that gives security programs for nuclear energy stations and offshore oil rigs.

Mr Adams had employed a automobile from Enterprise Vehicles to move items from Rochester in Kent, to Durham within the north east.

Though he and his workplace employees tried to pay for the journey on-line he stated the Dart Cost system “would not enable it as a result of it did not recognise the licence plate”.

He stated that by the point he contacted Dart Cost it was too late to pay the crossing price and he was informed to attend for the penalty cost discover and submit an attraction.

Mr Adams says he has since been informed by the rent agency that this continuously occurs with new autos.

He’s aggravated at dealing with a wonderful when he believes the Dart Cost system is at fault, and “benefiting from imposing fines that ought to not apply”.

A Nationwide Highways spokesperson stated: “In some instances, handbook checks are wanted to ensure crossing particulars are correct. This could delay these crossings being seen on the web site. Nonetheless, prospects can nonetheless pay for these crossings at any time as much as midnight the next day, whether or not the crossing is seen on-line or not.

“The simplest possibility for purchasers is to pay each time and on time. We’ve made this simple by providing other ways to pay which swimsuit everybody’s wants. We wish to make paying as stress-free as potential and restrict any further admin for our prospects.

“In a minority of circumstances penalty costs are issued in error. The place this occurs, the cost might be cancelled as quickly as a buyer contacts us to tell us they don’t seem to be the registered keeper of the automobile.”