When served with the penalty notice, you are offered a 28 days period to make any challenge on the penalty charge. The notice clearly outlines on making these challenge and should only be made in the Halton Borough Council. The Mersey Gateway Management will then review your presentation and give you feedback in the next 56 days after the challenge is presented. If they reject your appeal, you are entitled to make a petition at the Traffic Penalty Tribunal challenging the decision.
If you accept the Runcorn bridge fines and make the payment within 14 days from the day you were served with the penalty notice. Your penalty charge is reduced by half, which is from £40 to £20. Despite paying the penalty charge, you are also required to make the expected toll within the same duration. The details of making the toll and the penalty fee are outlined in the penalty certificate. If the penalty is not made within 14 days, it relapses back to £40.
At the lapse of 28 days and you have not challenged the Runcorn bridge fines or paid it, the penalty fee increase to £60. The fine to is made, and also you still have to pay the toll. The increase of this is made known to you through a presentation of a Charge Certificate. When the certificate is issued, you no longer have the right to challenge the decision to a legal platform. After the issuance of the charge certificate, you are given 14 days period to make the payment and the toll.
Make a late payment challenge
After issuance of the Charge Certificate. The organization has no legal basis for considering your representation hence you cannot challenge the idea in any council. The management instead allows you to make a presentation of through writing with precise details of why you should not make the penalty fee payment. After consideration of your plea, the management then gets to decide if you are eligible for making the payment or not.
Once you make the late payment challenge and is not accepted. Or you do not make the Runcorn bridge fines payment in 14 days from the day of issuance with the Charge Certificate. The Mersey Gateway Bridge makes an application to register a toll and penalty charge debt against your name in the County Court. If the County Court accepts this application, you get served with an Order of Recovery. The Order of Recovery outlines the date that you must make a full payment or make a witness statement. The statement witness is made on an enclosed form that is part of the Order of Recovery. With accordance to the instructions given, you present the statement to the County court.
Appealing against a fine
Some people have had successfully appealed against your Runcorn bridge fines, as outlined in the Liverpool Echo. Over one million fines were issued in the first month according to the BBC About 50,000 motorists.
If you do not make the payment required or not submit a witness statement to the court, the management applies a Warrant of Execution to be granted to them. The Warrant of execution allows the administration to give the Enforcement Agents your debt dues. When the application is granted, the Enforcement Agency takes control of your goods or vehicle under your name. The property held by the Enforcement Agency is sold, and the earnings are used to pay your debts.
Mersey tolling system is operated by emovis. Emovis is an Albertis company that works towards the management and development of information and technology services internationally. Albetis is a global leader company in managing highways and has contracts of more than 8000km levy roads. The company also specialises in free-flow tolling and was selected by the Halton Borough Council to initiate tolling on bridges. Both new and the existing ones. Emovis is located in 7 states and has more than 550 employees. The subsidiary company, emovis, operates the systems of free-flow toll in London Dartford Bridge and Dublin’s M50.