Business owner in Gateway fine row
ASMALL business owner is being pursued for unpaid Mersey Gateway tolls 18 months after crossing the bridge.
Ste Desmond, who owns a small cleaning company in Rainhill, was surprised to receive nine penalty notices last month for trips over the Mersey Gateway in May and June 2018.
In total, the notices claimed Mr Desmond owed £558 after failing to pay the fines within 28 days, but Mr Desmond said this was the first he had heard of it.
He said: “It’s just totally unfair, it’s totally unreasonable. I hadn’t been notified of any crossings.”
The notices claimed that Merseyflow, the company that operates the Gateway on behalf of Halton Council, originally contacted Mr Desmond shortly after the crossings.
Five of them also claimed the company had rejected an appeal against the fines on the same day they were issued.
But Mr Desmond said he had not received any penalty charge notices (PCNs) until January.
He said: “I went to Merseyflow’s office and tried to sort it out, and they said I couldn’t, I had to make a representation online, which I did.
“They replied in a week and said I wasn’t the registered keeper and if I wanted to take it further I had to write to them.”
After another email, Mr Desmond said he believed the company had agreed to accept the £18 in unpaid tolls rather than the full £558.
But when he went online to pay, he was again confronted by a demand for the full amount.
He said: mess.”
Merseyflow has since said it would reissue the PCNs at the starting rate of £20 each, adding it would be up to Mr Desmond to either pay or make a representation.
A spokesperson for Merseyflow said: “We first issued these five PCNs in June 2018 as part of a series of PCNs that were
“It’s just a issued to Mr. Desmond at that time.
“Mr. Desmond made a number of representations in June 2018, after which the process for these five PCNs was then placed on hold until late last year.
“These outstanding PCNs were then re-issued in February 2020 and we are currently awaiting payment or a representation from Mr Desmond.
“In doing this we have re-examined the case and the images of the vehicle involved. We can confirm this PCN has been issued for the correct vehicle and it has not yet been paid.”