Light – and a big fine – at end of the tunnel
‘PAY-LATER’ TOLL SYSTEM SLAMMED BY DRIVERS
TRIPS through the Tyne Tunnel have ended with threats of court and debt collectors – over the £1.80 fee.
Several motorists have told The Sunday Sun that they’ve been told to cough up hundreds of pounds for apparently not paying the toll on time.
All had used the ‘pay later’ system, launched last April. Drivers who can’t pay at the toll machines take a ticket, allowing them to pass through the barrier as long as they pay shortly after. The Tunnel’s operator, TT2, insist the system works and is popular with the “vast majority” of drivers. It is part of plans to ultimately do away with barriers to speed up traffic and make journeys “seamless”.
However a Facebook group has formed, full of disgruntled users who claim the system is nothing but a money-making exercise for the Tunnel, which lost almost £10 million in toll revenue as traffic levels dropped during the pandemic.
And some, such as Aimee Nightingale, claim a string of problems that they’ve encountered with the system mean they are now in the hands of debt collectors – all for a journey that cost less than a Big Mac.
“When I got the ticket to pay, the reference number was non-existent, so how could I even pay it if it didn’t exist,” claimed the 32-yearold, from Washington.
“That doesn’t give anyone a fair chance to pay, and it feels like a way to get more money from people.”
TT2’S website states anybody using the service has “until midnight of the following day of your journey to make payment”.
If it isn’t paid then a fine of up to £60 is issued. If that debt isn’t cleared on time, a further £100 is added and debt collectors could become involved.
Several other drivers, who wouldn’t be named, also said they’d experienced problems with seemingly nonexistent reference numbers, creating a problem when it came to settling the £1.80 debt.
However, according to Chris Ward, TT2’S operations manager, those issues could be stemming from human error – or by trying to settle the tab too late.
“We have seen no evidence of people being unable to pay due to the ticket not being accepted,” he said.
“What tends to arise is people putting in the wrong details. For example they will put in a G instead of a 9.
“More commonly the reason it won’t accept is that they’ve attempted to pay after the deadline. At that point, after the deadline, the system won’t recognise the reference because it is showing as a non-payment.”
Yet those who have fallen foul of late payments have faced severe consequences. One Northumberland woman received a letter, seen by The Sunday Sun, from a debt collection firm offering her “one last opportunity” to settle her debt with TT2.
If it didn’t, it warned that she could be hauled to court or even face bankruptcy proceedings.
Previously we told the story of NHS worker Isia Van Gils, who was fined and threatened with bailiffs for nonpayment of a ticket.
Another woman, solicitor Jennifer Ford, was left outraged after she was hit with a £60 fine due to a system error that left her unable to pay the fees. On that occasion, the payment deadline was extended.
One Tyneside businessman who was being chased for several hundred pounds told us he felt the pay-later system was designed to “catch people out” and should be scrapped.
“Replacing it with a card machine would literally solve the issue and you’d be killing two birds with one stone,” said the man, who again asked not to be named. “Not only would you be Covid-compliant, and not having lots of people touch a button for a ticket, but all this negativity goes away overnight.”
For Aimee, and others, perhaps the biggest improvement to the system
TT2 could make would be to extend the deadline to pay the initial £1.80 – and reduce the risk of that spiralling.
“I think that would make a really big difference,” she added. However, Mr Ward rejected both those suggestions. While TT2 had explored contactless payment, card-based systems previously proved “extremely unpopular” with users.
“We do feel as if the pay-later, and free-flow, system which we are moving towards, is the future,” he said.
And as for extending the payment deadline, he felt there was no need, adding that TT2 wanted to be “consistent” with other operators as more and more tolls move towards systems without barriers.
5