sixaxles:
Richard R:
I would contact the new owner of the number plate and ask them if they have already paid for the disputed crossings as it may be the case that the dart charge has been applied to two different accounts for the same journey, if it has been paid they can’t charge your mate. I am pretty sure if you have proof of the transfer of the number plate there won’t be a court in this land that will make you pay this bill because of an admin error I would suggest that they will go after the correct person in this case but once bayliffs get involved they want their percentage of the costs regardless.
I think you’ve misunderstood what ive put, my mate has put a private number plate on one of his trucks, and then not updated his dartcharge account with the new plate - a simple but stupid mistake - but should have been picked up almost immediately when the first penalty notice came through the post, but he’s never had a single one! so dart charge have decided he’s ignoring the post he isn’t receiving and it has gone through Northampton (crown I think, could be magistrates?) court and been put in the hands of the bailiff - its all very official anyway.
ive been to see him today and to be fair to the bailiff he’s been very helpful and they have come up with a way that prevents costs from multiplying out of control, he pretty much sided with my mate and agreed that dartcharge is a total scam!! that’s the shortened version anyway. after several phone calls to different law firms, including one championed by commercial motor it looks like he’s stuffed! dart charge is fully automated and they say they have sent the relevant penalty notices out which have never arrived, my mate cannot prove he’s never received them (how could you??) so from a point of law that’s the end of that, looks like the total bill will be aprox 9k, which frankly stinks in my opinion
This talk of “preventing costs multiplying out of control” doesn’t sound like a bailiff to me - sounds like a debt collection agency. Bailiffs are required to give 7 days’ notice before their first visit - They can’t normally just turn up unannounced. Also, while a bailiff’s fees will add to the debt, they are fixed at £75 for the first stage of the process - called “compliance”. They can only charge more if it becomes necessary to proceed further to seizing goods and subsequently selling them.
Has there been some other issue with the personalised plate? I’m thinking along the lines that if there was a problem with the address to which it is registered, the original penalty notices (and surely there would have been several of them?) might not have been sent to the correct address. Were the plates displayed properly (i.e. no silly fonts, non-standard spacing or conveniently placed securing screws to make the plates appear to show something slightly different to the actual registration)?
blue estate:
weeto:
The original number plate would never be re-issued, it is put on hold until a time that the owner decides to remove the new number plate.
100% right , i’ve got a personal reg on my car when i move it to another car it will get original reg back
Confirmed. I got back the original registration number for the vehicle when I retained the ‘cherished number’. It was sold with its original number.
Roymondo:
sixaxles:
Richard R:
I would contact the new owner of the number plate and ask them if they have already paid for the disputed crossings as it may be the case that the dart charge has been applied to two different accounts for the same journey, if it has been paid they can’t charge your mate. I am pretty sure if you have proof of the transfer of the number plate there won’t be a court in this land that will make you pay this bill because of an admin error I would suggest that they will go after the correct person in this case but once bayliffs get involved they want their percentage of the costs regardless.
I think you’ve misunderstood what ive put, my mate has put a private number plate on one of his trucks, and then not updated his dartcharge account with the new plate - a simple but stupid mistake - but should have been picked up almost immediately when the first penalty notice came through the post, but he’s never had a single one! so dart charge have decided he’s ignoring the post he isn’t receiving and it has gone through Northampton (crown I think, could be magistrates?) court and been put in the hands of the bailiff - its all very official anyway.
ive been to see him today and to be fair to the bailiff he’s been very helpful and they have come up with a way that prevents costs from multiplying out of control, he pretty much sided with my mate and agreed that dartcharge is a total scam!! that’s the shortened version anyway. after several phone calls to different law firms, including one championed by commercial motor it looks like he’s stuffed! dart charge is fully automated and they say they have sent the relevant penalty notices out which have never arrived, my mate cannot prove he’s never received them (how could you??) so from a point of law that’s the end of that, looks like the total bill will be aprox 9k, which frankly stinks in my opinion
This talk of “preventing costs multiplying out of control” doesn’t sound like a bailiff to me - sounds like a debt collection agency. Bailiffs are required to give 7 days’ notice before their first visit - They can’t normally just turn up unannounced. Also, while a bailiff’s fees will add to the debt, they are fixed at £75 for the first stage of the process - called “compliance”. They can only charge more if it becomes necessary to proceed further to seizing goods and subsequently selling them.
Has there been some other issue with the personalised plate? I’m thinking along the lines that if there was a problem with the address to which it is registered, the original penalty notices (and surely there would have been several of them?) might not have been sent to the correct address. Were the plates displayed properly (i.e. no silly fonts, non-standard spacing or conveniently placed securing screws to make the plates appear to show something slightly different to the actual registration)?
there are no silly fonts involved and the spacings are correct - although the anpr does sometimes fail to read it correctly at the Eurotunnel. my mate is as you can imagine taking this very seriously and has spoken to a couple of law firms - pretty sure this guy is not just a chancer, but I am going to forward this thread to him rather than me try and relay the useful information people have put forward 
I think with that sort of amount involved, a trip to Court to plead his case in person would be A Good Idea. Get the buggers to produce copies of the actual notices they sent, the dates they sent them and whatever proof they have that they were indeed sent and subsequently delivered. I find it pretty much impossible to believe that 65 separate notices were sent (to say nothing of notices from the court etc) and not one of them arrived! I would be questioning their representative as to all the steps they took (in detail) with a paper-trail all the way to prove things.
Before that though, I would suggest a letter to the Dartford Crossing people outlining what has gone wrong (and why), explaining that this is the very first that he knew about it (referring to his up-to-date account which he had no reason to doubt was paying for all his regular usage of the crossing, no penalty notices having been received etc) and making an up-front offer asking them to deal with him as if he had just received a penalty notice (because in effect he has - not having had any communication at all before this). He’d still end up paying £2700, but that’s a sight better than £9k!
Hi,
I work for Highways England and it sounds like I might be able to look into this and advise your friend on the best thing to do next. I monitor the Dart Charge social media accounts, could you ask your friend to message me on Twitter (@DartCharge) or at our Facebook page please?
Thanks,
Tim
Tim Scott:
Hi,
I work for Highways England and it sounds like I might be able to look into this and advise your friend on the best thing to do next. I monitor the Dart Charge social media accounts, could you ask your friend to message me on Twitter (@DartCharge) or at our Facebook page please?
Thanks,
Tim
thanks tim, I have just sent him a link to this thread, hopefully you can help