System ‘set up to give fines’

A DRIVER has slated the Mersey Gateway tolls system and accused it of being set up to make fines more likely and mischarging his caravan as a commercial vehicle.

Darren Clarke, 49, of Southport, crossed the bridge in his camper van on October 28 and paid to cross online.

He then waited the advised 24 hours before checking his payment had been made, and found it had not.

He then called Merseyflow, which said it had received no payment and a fine was on its way in the post.

Mr Clarke was told he could appeal online, but when he tried to do that, he was told he needed to fill out the back of the fixed penalty notice (FPN), which had not yet arrived in the post.

He said he only found out he had been fined because he tried to do the right thing by phoning up to find out why his payment had not transferred.

Mr Clarke said the system appears rigged to fail and make fines more likely, because drivers only have until the end of the next day to pay, but are advised to wait 24 hours before checking to make sure payment has been transferred, leaving a tiny window to check before a fine is issued.

To add insult to injury, his camper van was mischarged as a commercial vehicle and on a later journey in his car claimed he had not even crossed.

He said: “I waited 24 hours and nothing had been taken from my account.

“I phoned them on the Tuesday morning – I’m concerned the payment hasn’t been secured.

“They said, ‘sorry, we’ve already sent an FPN’.”

“By doing the honest thing and I’m trying to pay you and you’re charging me an excess, it’s even more frustrating.”

Merseyflow has been approached for comment.