Dart Charge fines increase a year after operator changes

Sarah Lawrence, of Great Baddow, has a collection of 58 PCNs – totalling £2,030.

She says her son, who is dyslexic, made a “keying error” when he set up his Dart Charge account last year, entering the wrong licence plate number.

The fines equate to “three months’ wages for someone on an apprenticeship” like her son, she says.

She is confused as to why the system still allowed him to create an account, and why it took more than four months from the first crossing for him to be issued with a fine, meaning they did not realise the mistake and could not rectify it.

Ms Randall began submitting appeals in April on her son’s behalf.

“He is very stressed out and can’t cope with this level of admin with his dyslexia,” she says.

She hopes Dart Charge operators will understand “he set up the account because he wanted to pay” and he will no longer “be hounded with PCNs”.

National Highways said there were reasons why a number plate may not match existing DVLA records, including newly registered vehicles, non-UK plates or wrongly inputted details.

It added that in this case, “the option to ‘self-declare’ is presented, followed by a further prompt to double check vehicle details have been entered correctly.”

Since the BBC interviewed Sarah, her son’s fines have been overturned.