I forgot to pay, can I still pay just the £2.50?

Yes, but only within a narrow window. The Dart Charge website lets you pay the toll for up to a year after the crossing on a goodwill basis, even after the formal deadline has passed. Paying does not automatically cancel the PCN, but it strongly supports a goodwill cancellation request, because it shows you intended to comply and did so as soon as you realised. Pay first, then write to Conduent with the payment reference, the PCN number and a polite apology. Most first-time cases are cancelled.

Is there any grace period after midnight?

Not officially. The Dartford-Thurrock Crossing Charging Scheme 2013 sets the deadline as midnight the day after the crossing. In practice Conduent runs a small unwritten tolerance for payments that arrive within a few hours of midnight if the bank statement shows the transaction was initiated earlier, but you should not rely on that. If you are running late, pay before midnight at all costs. If you genuinely paid before midnight but Conduent's system credited the payment after midnight, your bank's time-stamped statement is the evidence you need.

Will the PCN still be £35 if I challenge it?

Conduent keeps the discounted £35 rate available while they consider an informal representation. If they reject the representation and you then escalate to a formal challenge after the Notice to Owner, the discount is normally lost and the full £70 applies, although the adjudicator can reinstate the discount on cancellation. You can also choose to pay £35 to close the case while still preserving the right to a refund if you can show a clear procedural error and pursue a complaint. Most drivers find it cheaper to pay and move on if the case is borderline.

What if I never received the PCN at all?

If you only learn about the case once it has reached the Traffic Enforcement Centre in Northampton for enforcement, you can file a TE9 witness statement on the gov.uk service. The TE9 is a free statement of truth that you did not receive the PCN. If accepted, the order for recovery is cancelled and the case returns to Conduent for re-service, which gives you a fresh chance to challenge. Use form TE7 if you simply need more time to act. Both forms are free and do not require a solicitor.

Can I appeal on the grounds that I did not know the toll existed?

Ignorance of the toll is not a statutory ground for cancellation and the Traffic Penalty Tribunal will not accept it. The crossing is signed clearly in advance with multiple gantries warning drivers to pay. However, it can be part of a mitigation package: explain in your representation that you are not local, that this was a one-off journey, that you have now paid, and that you are unlikely to use the crossing again. Combined with a clean record this often produces a goodwill cancellation, even though it is not a formal ground.

What if a hire car company is invoicing me an admin fee on top?

The hire firm can charge a contractual admin fee for handling the PCN transfer, typically £25 to £50. That is not part of the PCN itself and is governed by your hire agreement, not by the 2022 Regulations. If the fee is high and you think it is unreasonable, look at the small print of the hire agreement to see what it actually says. You can also argue under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 that the fee must be transparent and prominent in the agreement, and dispute it on those grounds with the hire firm.

Forgot to Pay Dartford Crossing? Your Options | AppealAFine

Most drivers who get a Dart Charge PCN did not deliberately dodge the toll, they simply forgot. The Dartford Crossing has no booths and the payment window is short: you must pay by midnight the day after the crossing. Once that window closes, Conduent issues a £70 PCN on behalf of National Highways, halved to £35 if paid within 14 days. The good news is that there are several ways out. You can ask Conduent for a goodwill cancellation, particularly if it is your first PCN. You can challenge under the Dartford-Thurrock Crossing Charging Scheme 2013 if the system failed to match a payment you actually made. And you can use the statutory grounds under Part 6 of the Traffic Management Act 2004 and the Civil Enforcement of Road Traffic Contraventions (England) General Regulations 2022 if there is any procedural defect. This page walks through each route in order.

Grounds that work for Dartford Crossing missed payment pcns

The payment did clear but Conduent did not match it

This is the most common ground that succeeds at the Traffic Penalty Tribunal. The Dart Charge system matches incoming card or account payments to the ANPR record by registration mark and time stamp. Mismatches happen when the registration entered online had a typo, when the account holder used an old plate after a vehicle change, or when the payment was credited a few seconds after the midnight cut-off but the actual transaction was authorised earlier. Pull your bank statement or PayPal transaction record, screenshot the timing, and write a representation to Conduent quoting the Dartford-Thurrock Crossing Charging Scheme 2013 and asking for reconciliation. Send proof in PDF, not just a forwarded email.

Goodwill cancellation for a first contravention

Conduent has internal discretion to cancel a first PCN as a one-off. There is no statutory right to this but it is widely granted. To make the request work, pay the underlying £2.50 toll immediately via the gov.uk service and quote the payment reference in your representation. Apologise for the missed deadline, state that this is your first contravention, and explain any mitigating context such as a hospital visit, unfamiliarity with the cashless system, or a recent house move. Keep it short and polite. Conduent will normally cancel if the toll is paid and you have no prior history of contraventions on the account or vehicle.

Hire or lease vehicle, liability not transferred properly

If the vehicle was hired or leased on the date of crossing, the registered keeper is the hire firm and they should transfer liability to you under regulation 14 of the Civil Enforcement of Road Traffic Contraventions (England) General Regulations 2022. The transfer needs a copy of the hire agreement and a statement of liability served on Conduent. If you are receiving a PCN directly from Conduent but the chain is incomplete, you have a defence: the PCN was issued to the wrong person. Send Conduent a copy of your hire agreement covering the date of crossing and ask them to either confirm the transfer paperwork is complete or cancel the PCN against you.

Foreign-registered or recently sold vehicle

If you sold the vehicle before the crossing, send Conduent your V5C/2 sale slip with the date of transfer to DVLA. If your record is clean, the PCN should be reissued to the new keeper. If you were never the keeper because the vehicle is foreign-registered, the same routes apply through Euro Parking Collection. Drivers with foreign plates retain the right to challenge under the Dartford-Thurrock Crossing Charging Scheme 2013 and the 2022 Regulations. Where service was effected late because the postal trace took months, you may have an out-of-time service argument as a backup.

Out-of-time service or defective PCN

Schedule 1 of the 2022 Regulations requires the PCN to be served within six months of the contravention and the Notice to Owner to follow within six months of the PCN. If your PCN is dated more than six months after the actual crossing, write to Conduent stating that service is out of time and ask for cancellation. Regulation 9 also requires the PCN to state the date, time and location of the contravention, the amount of the penalty, the discount and full-penalty amounts, and the procedure for representations. Look at the PCN carefully for any inconsistencies, missing fields or wrong details. The Traffic Penalty Tribunal applies these requirements strictly.

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Local detail: Dartford Crossing

The Dart Charge applies 06:00 to 22:00 every day including weekends and bank holidays.
Standard car charge is £2.50, paid by midnight the day after the crossing.
Pre-pay accounts get a small discount and queue-jump priority at peak times.
Two-wheeled motorcycles, mopeds and quads are exempt, as are vehicles in the disabled tax class.
Conduent took over the contract from Sanef in 2020 and runs dartford-crossing-charge.service.gov.uk.
The Traffic Penalty Tribunal in Manchester handles appeals, not London Tribunals.
Around 180,000 vehicles cross daily, with around 1 in 20 contraventions resulting in a PCN.

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