Pay-at-barrier toll bridge — no lawful penalty by post
Small toll bridges of this kind (for example Whitchurch, Swinford, Dunham, Kingsland, Whitney-on-Wye, Cartford and Aldwark) are collected AT THE BARRIER under their own private or local Acts: you pay the keeper or booth as you cross, or you do not cross. They operate no automatic number-plate (ANPR) or account system and have no statutory power to pursue an unpaid toll by issuing a penalty or charge notice through the post after the event. A "Penalty Charge Notice", "Unpaid Toll Notice" or similar demand received by post that names one of these crossings is therefore not a lawful civil penalty — it is an administrative error or a scam. Do not pay. Reply requiring the sender to identify the exact statutory power under which it claims to levy a post-event penalty for this crossing; if none is given, the demand is invalid. Report suspected scam demands to Action Fraud.
Legal basis
Small toll bridges are authorised by their individual private or local Acts (for example the Whitchurch Bridge Act and the Swinford Toll Bridge Act) to levy a toll for passage, collected at the crossing itself. Unlike the Dartford Crossing (charged under the Dartford-Thurrock Crossing Charging Scheme, which carries a statutory penalty regime) or ANPR-based road-user-charging schemes, these Acts confer no power to impose a civil penalty or to pursue an "unpaid toll" by notice through the post. Absent an identified statutory power, a posted penalty demand for such a crossing has no legal basis.
Sample appeal wording
formal
Replace [PARKING DATE], [NtK DATE] etc. with your own dates before sending.
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Scan my ticketRelated appeal grounds
- Aberdeen Clean Air Zone ticket issued too early
- Appealing a Scottish tribunal's legal error to a higher tribunal
- Attorney acting for keeper under Scottish power of attorney
- Bailiff acted without proper advance warning notice
- Bath CAZ — Sunset Period for Pre-Registered Commercial Vehicles
- Bay Obstructed or Too Small — Could Not Park Within the Bay Markings