HOME page Main Mersey Gateway Penalties page
(page revised 5 May 2023)
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 - STAGES 3 - CHARGE CERTIFICATES
This page describes the stage between getting a Penalty Charge Notice and Merseyflow applying to the Traffic Enforcement Centre for a 'Recovery order'.
Background
How To Deal With Charge Certificates.
What A Charge Certificate Looks Like
Background
During summer 2018, Merseyflow started issuing 'Charge Certificates' increasing the penalty to £60. They are issued if Merseyflow claim that-
The registered keeper of the vehicle failed to do anything within 28 days of receiving the PCN. Or
Within the 28 days of receiving the PCN the registered keeper of the vehicle made a representation, but they later received a 'Notice of Rejection' and failed to do anything within 28 days of receiving the 'Notice of Rejection'.
After receiving a Notice of Rejection the registered keeper of the vehicle appealed to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal within 28 days but the Tribunal dismissed the appeal.
There will also be charge certificates issued because the registered keeper of the vehicle never received any of the above.
The Charge Certificate gives no option other than to either pay the £60 per PCN within 14 days or wait till "Mersey Gateway Crossing" apply to the County Court (the Traffic Enforcement Centre at Northampton County Court) for a 'Order for recovery of unpaid penalty charge'.
Merseyflow know that most people will be scared by the charge certificate and pay up.
Though the Charge Certificate says that a Recovery Order could be issued after 14 days, in practice none were issued till early October 2018 - a year after the bridge opened. This meant that many people will not have remembered what had happened and whether there had been a mistake or not. As far as we know they are now issued on a more timely basis. Though a lot of people do not receive what Merseyflow claim to have sent out.
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How To Deal With Charge Certificates
When you get a Charge Certificate, YOU HAVE THESE CHOICES-
EITHER, PAY within the 14 days, the amount demanded - usually £62 per toll that they claim was not paid.
OR, TELL MERSEYFLOW IF YOU ARE VULNERABLE- This normally comes into play at the Bailiff stage, but there is no need to wait till then. Check on this part of our advice on Bailiffs to see if you might be classed as vulnerable and if so then follow the advice on the link.
OR, DISCUSS IT WITH MERSEYFLOW- There may be special circumstances (apart from vulnerability) or you may think that there has been an error and there should not have been a penalty issued to you. Or you might want to see if they will accept a payment less than what is demanded in the Charge Certificate.
We recommend that you use email or visit, as Merseyflow may not give reliable answers if you phone them and may ignore letters. Their contact details are: by Email- info@merseyflow.co.uk, OR phone 01928 878 878, OR write to or visit the Walk-in centre at Howard Court, Manor Park, Runcorn, WA7 1SJ.
In these circumstances we recommend that you copy any email to your MP - (Contact details for MPs).
OR, WAIT TILL THE NEXT STAGE - STAGE FOUR - Traffic Enforcement Centre - Recovery Orders and complete the TE9 witness statement form that you should get with the TE3 Recovery Order.
Before you do this you should make sure that one of the boxes on the TE9 form applies to you. You also need to be aware that there is a risk that you may not receive the TE forms and that you are then thrown to the wolves.
OR, MAKE A 'REPRESENTATION TO MERSEYFLOW- If you believe that either you did not see any previous forms or were not able to deal with them (for instance you may have been suffering from some illness that made it difficult or impossible to deal with this) how to do this.
Even before the February 2023 decision of a judge, this waa almost always a waste of time.
IF YOU AE NOT PAYING, THEN HAVE A THINK ABOUT WHETHER YOUR CAR IS AT RISK AND CONSIDER TRANSFERRING THE OWNERSHIP OF IT- There is a risk, that whatever you do, you may get into a situation where the 'debt' enforcers are called in. Unless they can bully or trick you into letting them into your home, the main risk is that they will clamp your car. So have a look at trying to prevent them taking your car and consider transferring the ownership of your car.
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What a charge certificates looks like, front and back (this is from 2019, but there has been little change)
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