Son didn’t pay Dart charge at Dartford, now owes over £600, some info please…

Not looking for moral judgements please. He buried his head in the sand. He has to pay it. I understand this much.

They won’t accept a payment plan. They also say they can take his car which is on hire purchase. Is this true?

Thanks guys, he’s only just called me about this. I didn’t even know about this before 5 minutes ago….

It’s debt owed and anything he owns can be taken to recoup the debt.

As part of the HP does he own it now or is it owned by the finance company till that loans paid off?

Is that the product of multiple unpaid crossings or a single one that’s incurred lots of fees etc?

Where I say HP is one of those arrangements where he pays a set amount for 4 years for a set max mileage. He can then either pay to keep the car or swap it in for another. I’m not sure of details as I’ve never used this method to get a car.

Thanks for any info.

Probably time to head to CAB for some help there, he needs to speak to somebody who knows the legal side of things

Single crossing to my knowledge that’s incurred lots of fees.

Christ, I understand there has to be some consquence for not paying bills but that’s astronomical. Close to half a months earnings for me.

Id pop over to money saving expert and ask there.

Ouch. First thing I’d do is send a cheque for the initial penalty amount, crossed with ‘full and final settlement’ with a letter stating that this was the offer. You never know, it may be cashed and that would put you in a strong position if it subsequently goes to court. If they don’t bite, then you’ll need to negotiate. I hate this kind of thing. It’s literally extracting money for nothing or virtually nothing, at least.

Sounds like the PCN issued has gone to a debt collection agency with fees on top.

The structure for the unpaid PCN fees is terrible, 28 days unpaid and it doubles then gets passed to a collection agency.

Assume the collection agency are the ones threatening ?

If so try the staggered payment option, there are clauses where they can’t refuse but I’m not sure what they take into consideration…

CAB are first point of call, or Money Saving Expert as they’ve got a forum with a Dart charge topic thats full of instances like this.

How they can get away with behaviour like that is beyond me.

Right, firstly take a deep breath.

Couple of things. Firstly who is asking for the money – local authority / council or private firm?

Its likely to be a private firm who are big on threats but can do basically **** all.

1) No one take take anything you own without a High Court Order.

2) No one is going to the High Court for £600

3) They will possibly try to take him to County Court, this isn’t that bad IF he doesn’t bury his head in the sand – if they got to CC and admit “yeah, he offered £x a month but we flat refused” they will lose.

4) They won’t be able to take the car if it’s secured against finance, the finance cos take little shit from these firms.

IME with local authorities and councils its harder, they aren’t restricted with the same rules as the debt collectors, but their weapons of choice are 1) garnish salary if he’s PAYE or 2) threaten prison if that doesn’t work, but I’m 99% certain that’s only for non-payment of COURT fines and or Council Tax.

You can follow up with more detail if you like and I’ll help where I can and be honest about whether I’m stating fact or theory – but Legal Beagles is the place to go really.

Definitely ask on a proper forum – you’ve got someone here advising you without knowing who owns the car on an HP scheme FFS, without even knowing that property can’t be taken without a court order .

Check Money saving expert and CAB.

nothing on the phone is a solid offer from either side as people tend to lie if they said the wrong thing or change their mind. Everything needs to be in writing so there is a paper trail.

I thought if you informed the party you could freeze the debt and fees and enter into a payment plan. You take a hit on credit but not having spiralling debt is better. Might need to be min of 100 per month payoff though and they could charge a set up fee

I got threatening letters despite setting up an account and was convinced I had paid at that time.  Entered card details etc.    I think they have website that doesn’t make some of the process clear.    I had to phone eventually to pay as paying online as instructed by their first letter didn’t work.

I’d love pay as you go motoring taxes but not with threats like that.

You need more info first. Why has he not paid, how far down the line with it is he. Has it gone to court? What exactly are the fees outstanding? Has he had notifications at every stage?

Technically they can’t take his car if it is on HP and the final payment hasnt been made. It won’t stop them trying though, and if they have it and he has to fight to get it back it’s still going to inconvenience him. They also can’t take a car showing a blue badge, if he knows anyone not using one… 😉

Again this depends on how far down the process it is though. I’m currently fighting them over a dart charge where I forgot to update my v5. There is a 56 day wait to hear a verdict, it’s just totally inept as a system. Can only be hugely stressful.

Do you have 600 quid to hand?  If so, pay it off, and deal with son later.