Driver, 71, left ‘stranded’ after breakdown
● A VULNERABLE pensioner who claims he was left stranded in the freezing cold for more than two hours after his car broke down on the Mersey Gateway Bridge faces a £150 charge to get his vehicle back.
Alan Campbell, 71, from Netherley, broke down at about 6pm on Friday, March 16. His family claim he was then forced to wait until about 8.30pm before his car was safely towed from the bridge by Hough Green Garage, despite Mersey Gateway operating a 30 minute recovery policy.
MERSEYFLOW is investigating claims a man who received a fine for crossing the Mersey Gateway despite paying the toll charge was told by staff to ‘take it up with the police’ when he complained.
Bernie Langshaw, a taxi driver from Neston, has slammed the company’s ‘shocking customer service’ over their handling of a complaint.
The 67-year-old was stung with two fixed penalty notices despite paying the £2 toll through Payzone at a corner shop.
He claims that when he first got in touch with Mersyflow’s customer service team, they told him Payzone must have rejected his payment, which can happen if the vehicle regis-
Motorists who break down on the bridge are not permitted to arrange their own vehicle recovery and must pay for it to be removed by an authorised Merseylink contractor, at a minimum cost of £150. However, Mr Campbell’s family claims Hough Green Garage arrived around two and a half hours after he broke down. They also say that the blue badge holder, was not able to get his wheelchair from the boot of his car.
The pensioner, who is covered by RAC, now faces a £150 fee to retrieve his car tration number is entered incorrectly.
However, when Mr Langshaw contacted Payzone, it denied rejecting the payment and said the issue was a recurring problem to do with Merseyflow.
Payzone also confirmed this was the case.
Mr Langshaw claims when he got in touch with the tolling company for the second time, a member of staff admitted they were having trouble accepting Payzone payments, but said there was nothing they could do.
He claims the spokesperson told him that despite paying the toll charge, he would have to make a representation or contact the police to get the matter resolved.
Bernie said: “They are clearly aware of this problem so you’d think they’d be concerned. But when I asked if there was anybody else I could speak and wheelchair, despite waiting five times longer than Mersey Gateway’s target recovery time in the freezing cold weather.
Alan’s son, David Campbell, 40, said: “I’m so angry about the fact that he’s been left that amount of time and still has to pay £150 because he was unfortunate enough to break down in that area.
“No-one chooses where they break down. No-one chooses to break down on a bridge that will then charge you £150 for the pleasure of doing so.
“If he’d have broken down to they said no.
“I had done everything right and but somehow I’m left with having to take the matter to court or waste police time, even though I paid the toll and have evidence to show for it.
“The attitude they have is that if they make a mistake, it’s not their fault and Joe public will have to pay for it.
“Merseyflow’s customer service is shocking. No-one will accept responsibility.”
The standard protocol for appealing a fixed penalty notice from Merseyflow is to make a representation to Halton Council.
If that is rejected, motorists can make an appeal to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal, although all current appeals are on hold following a TPT ruling that said the toll charges could be illegal because they weren’t specified anywhere else on that journey he would have got home for free. He’s an elderly pensioner, he can’t afford £150. To be left vulnerable in the freezing cold – it’s morally wrong.”
David Campbell added that the incident left his father, who recently had pneumonia and has difficulty walking after breaking his hip, feeling ‘panic stricken’.
He said: “There’s no hard shoulder on the bridge, so he’s stuck out half way onto the road, not knowing what to do and panicking because there’s cars and lorries flying clearly enough in Halton Council’s road charging order.
Before the TPT ruling, a Freedom Of Information request revealed no appeals had found in favour of Merseyflow when taken to the transport watchdog since the bridge opened last October.
A spokesperson from Merseyflow issued a comment on Mr Langshaw’s case, confirming there was an error with accepting the payzone payment on its side, and that it had cancelled his fine.
The spokesperson said: “After investigating, Merseyflow found there was a technical issue with the customer’s vehicle record in regards to this payment, this has now been resolved. We will cancel the PCN and allocate the payment to his crossings. We will also review the call recordings against our internal quality process.” past him.
“If it was me or you, we could get to the road side to ask for help. [But] he can only walk 25 yards or so before being out of breath.”
Hough Green Garage said that it did not receive a call about a break down on the Mersey Gateway Bridge on the Friday night until 8.02pm.
A spokesperson for Merseylink said: “The Mersey Gateway Bridge Byelaws 2016 are in place to ensure the Mersey Gateway Bridge can be operated safely and in a way which maintains the free flow of traffic.” ●