Transport for London says around 1,000 people per day are being duped into using unofficial Congestion Charge websites, with many paying more than necessary to drive into the charging zone.
A number of sites have recently been set-up which promise to register motorists with TfL but charge more for doing so than the official site.
In some cases motorists have found themselves liable to pay a £130 penalty after the site they paid failed to register their journey with TfL.
The capital’s transport body is reminding motorists to only pay the charge via the official website – www.tfl.gov.uk/cclondon.
Garrett Emmerson, TfL’s Chief Operating Officer for Surface Transport, said: “We urge customers paying the Congestion Charge online to be careful and to double check that they are paying via the official TfL website – www.tfl.gov.uk/cclondon – which is a quick and easy way to pay, and avoids any unnecessary charges.”
In October Mayor Boris Johnson told London Assembly Members that TfL was “talking to Trading Standards, the Office of Fair Trading, the Advertising Standards Authority” to explore options for closing down unofficial websites.
Steve Brooker says
Took my wife for afternoon tea at the Dorchester a couple of weeks ago, sat in the bar and thought that I would pay the CC on my phone in case I forgot later. Found what looked to be the official TfL site and pressed the ‘Pay Now’ button only to find on my statement that I had been charged £16 by an unofficial site.
Not a happy man!
Regards
S.P. Brooker
Nigel Whitfield says
This is just the latest in a plague of such sites, covering a range of different government services for which a fee is payable. Search, for instance, for ‘UK passport renewal’ and Google has three ads at the top, plus five down the right hand side, before you get to the real gov.uk page in the actual search results.
Most of those offer to handle your passport renewal, often adding around 50% to the cost, or have premium rate helplines. They excuse their behaviour with small print that says they’re not affiliated with the official service, but they’re still predatory scum. There are similar sites for the driving licenses too, so it’s not a surprise to see them trying the same scam for the congestion charge.
So, perhaps TFL needs not just to speak to the TSA, but also to join forces with other government departments, and tackle the wider problem. One solution might be simply to bid on the relevant keywords, or to arrange with Google not to show adverts from such scam sites against them, though I’m sure some free market loon will come up with a reason why these sites “add value” and so should be allowed to appear ahead of the official site.