Congestion Charge — Auto Pay Account Failure

Where the driver was registered for TfL Auto Pay but the account failed to charge — due to a TfL system error, an expired card without TfL notification, or a DVLA address mismatch — the driver should not be penalised for TfL's billing failure. Auto Pay is intended to settle the charge automatically for registered vehicles.

Legal basis

TfL Auto Pay Terms and Conditions; Consumer Rights Act 2015 ss 49-50; Greater London (Central Zone) Congestion Charging Order 2004

How to identify this in your case

Confirm an active Auto Pay account covering the VRM on the charging date and any record of a failed/declined charge or absence of notification.

Sample appeal wording

Before you send this

Deadline. A late submission can be turned down without your argument being read. Check your notice for the deadline and how it is counted.
Paying may end it. Paying can count as accepting the notice and can close a challenge already under way. Part-paying or acknowledging an old debt can also revive a time limit that had expired.
The amount can change. Check what happens to the sum if you challenge — it may be held, re-offered lower, or keep rising, and fees or enforcement can continue meanwhile.
Use the official route. Use the method, recipient and form your notice specifies, with any reference, evidence and signature it asks for. Sent elsewhere, it may not count.
Only say what is true. Do not copy any statement of fact unless it is true for you, and check the legal point still applies. Delete what does not fit. It may be treated as your statement.
Careful what you volunteer. Avoid unnecessary admissions — naming the driver or accepting responsibility can remove arguments. But answer anything you are legally required to answer, and do include the evidence your ground needs.
Keep the record. Keep what you sent, the attachments, any receipt, and the reply. Note the next deadline.

Sample wording to adapt and send yourself — it may not fit your notice or the stage you are at. Replace the bracketed prompts with your own details; leave any case citation as it is.

This PCN should be cancelled because vehicle [VRM] was registered for TfL Auto Pay on [DATE] and any failure to charge was a TfL billing/system failure, not a failure to pay on my part. I enclose evidence of the active Auto Pay account. I should be charged only the underlying Congestion Charge, not a penalty.

Beat It writes this argument automatically

Scan your PCN — our AI checks if this ground applies to your specific ticket, drafts a properly-cited appeal letter, and sends it for you where the council takes email — guiding you through their own online form where they use one, so you press submit. The win fee is only charged if you win.

Congestion Charge — Auto Pay Account Failure

Legal basis

How to identify this in your case

Sample appeal wording

Beat It writes this argument automatically

Sources

Related appeal grounds

Next steps