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(page revised 6 May 2023)
HOME page   Main Mersey Gateway Penalties page

star WARNING. IN FEBRUARY 2023 A HIGH COURT JUDGE REVERSED THE DECISIONS MADE BY ADJUDICATORS OVER THE PREVIOUS FIVE YEARS. HE RULED THAT THE ENFORCEMENT OF THE PENALTIES WAS LEGAL.
THIS HUMPTY DUMPTY DECISION MEANS THAT SOME OF OUR PREVIOUS ADVICE NO LONGER APPLIES. WE HAVE TRIED TO REFLECT THE NEW SITUATION BELOW AND IN OUR OTHER PAGES DEALING WITH THE PENALTIES

MERSEY GATEWAY PENALTIES - STAGE 2 - MAKING AN APPEAL ONLINE TO TRAFFIC PENALTY TRIBUNAL

  • This page describes the stage if you have received a Notice of Rejection of your representation against a Penalty Charge Notice.

  • Before you start - warning

  • How to do it, if you are not put off with our warnings

  • What happens next?

    Before you start we should warn you of three things-

  • You will probably be wasting your time. As far as we know the Tribunal has rejected every appeal dealt with since April 2023, when the Tribunal restarted dealing with appeals following the judge's decision in February.

  • The Tribunal have made it clear that if you appeal to them you lose your entitlement to pay at the 50% rate.
    They have had this warning on their website from round about the start of 2023. Before then, the rule as we understood it was that the clock was stopped while an appeal was considered, i.e. if you were still within the 14 day discount period when you started the appeal, and you lost the appeal, then you would still be able to pay at the 50% rate.

  • There are very limited grounds for making an appeal. And they are the same grounds that were available when you made your representation.
    The grounds are detailed at Regulation 8 (3) The Road User Charging Schemes (Penalty Charges, Adjudication and Enforcement) (England) Regulations 2013.

    In summary the grounds that might conceivably apply to you are-

  • You were not the registered keeper of the vehicle at the time of the crossing.
  • The vehicle was being driven without the permission of the registered keeper, e.g. stolen.
  • The toll had been paid in full by the required time.
  • No toll was payable due to a current registered exemption of the driver or the vehicle.
  • There has been a 'procedural impropriety on the part of the charging authority'.

  • The Regulations also say that "If the adjudicator does not allow the appeal but is satisfied that there are compelling reasons why, in the particular circumstances of the case, the penalty charge notice should be cancelled the adjudicator may recommend to the charging authority in writing that it cancels the penalty charge notice.". As far as we know this provision has never been used, and if it was used then it would be odd if Merseyflow paid any attention as they have already rejected the representation.
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    How to do it, if you are not put off with our warnings

  • Following the Notice of Rejection, you have 28 days to appeal to the Tribunal, but we recommend that if you bother to do it, then do it as soon as you can.

    If it is past the 28 days because you did not receive any notification that it had been rejected, then you can still try to appeal to the Tribunal.
    (Note that if you made the representation online, then you will have been forced to accept that the notification of rejection would be sent by email.)

  • Nearly all appeals have been made online. If you can not do it online or prefer not to, then you can ring them on 0800 160 1999, and they will send you a form.

  • Our guidance used to take you through the process in great detail, but over the last five years, and particularly since September 2020, the Tribunal have improved their web pages and we have removed our detailed guidance.

  • The initial guidance is at this page on the Tribunal site.

  • Once you have read the initial guidance click the button to start the appeal. That will take you through a number of screens, but most of the screens only require a small amount of information. It will take you ten to fifteen minutes to complete this first stage of the appeal.

    Note that Merseyflow, who the Tribunal refers to as 'the authority', will probably oppose the appeal and you will have to spend more time later on looking at their evidence, responding to it and submitting any further evidence or arguments that you might have.

  • You will need your Notice of Rejection, and you will also have to decide what your grounds of appeal are and what evidence, if any, that you have. If nothing else, we still suggest that you appeal on the grounds that there has been a 'procedural impropriety' - this means that Merseyflow or Halton Borough Council have not complied with the relevant acts, regulations and orders.

  • To appeal online you need an email address. If you have not got one, then you might use a close friend's or relative's or set one up such as using Google Mail.

  • Note that to make the appeal you do not have to submit any evidence straight away. What evidence you put in or not, you will be able to add to it later.

  • When you have finished, you should get an email acknowledgement of the appeal from the Tribunal. If you do not get the email, then contact them. Even if the appeal has successfuly been recorded you will be in difficulties if there has been a mistake with your email address.

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    What happens next?

  • Using your email address and the password that you have given to them, you can log back onto your appeal at any time.
    You will need to do this if you are adding anything to your appeal including more evidence.
    You can also see how Merseyflow (in the guise of the authority) react to your appeal and have a chance to comment on anything that they might say.

  • Merseyflow normally have only 14 days to indicate that they will challenge the appeal. They have to submit copies of the Penalty Notice, your Representation, and their Notice of Rejection.

  • Appeals should be dealt with fairly quickly, though the Tribunal sat on a lot of appeals for around four years between late 2018 and early 2023.

  • Most appeals are decided on what has been submitted online, but you can ask for a 'hearing' which is usually by phone.

  • When your appeal is refused, you can ask for a 'review' on very limited grounds. So far they have refused every review request.

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