Dart Charge firm repaid £3.25m in failed contract

Conduent Public Sector UK Ltd was awarded the £150m Dartford Crossing free flow charging contract in 2021

The firm awarded a contract to run the charging element of the Dartford Crossing had to repay £3.25m to a London council over a failed parking enforcement scheme, a BBC investigation has found.

Conduent Public Sector UK Ltd entered a contract with Croydon Council in March 2022 to provide 100 Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras to monitor parking around schools.

But in July 2023 the borough sought to exit the contract, suggesting the equipment was not working properly, although it has not stated what the problem was.

There is no evidence the ANPR cameras used on the Dartford Crossing have the same issues.

The Queen Elizabeth II bridge and tunnel, taking M25 traffic over and under the Thames between Essex and Kent, recorded more than 50 million journeys during charging hours last year.

Conduent was awarded the £150m contract to operate the "Road User Charging Service" by National Highways in April 2021 - although the system did not go live until July 2023.

Conduent repaid £3.25m to Croydon Council after failures in an ANPR system set up to control parking outside schools

Part of the contract includes the "provision and operation of roadside equipment (e.g. ANPR) to enable detection and identification of vehicles".

It took over both Dart Charge accounts as well as the online pay-as-you-go system from the former operator Emovis, which is now in charge of enforcement instead.

'Unexpected events'

The contract with the London Borough of Croydon was smaller in scale.

ANPR cameras were to be used to enforce "Healthy School Streets" and encourage parents to walk or cycle their kids to school rather than using a car.

But in May 2023, council papers revealed the borough's parking services had made £16m less than anticipated, which it blamed on "the roll out of new ANPR cameras" adding that the equipment was "not compliant with the relevant UK standards".

In further papers published in July 2023, the Croydon Mayor, Jason Perry, gave powers to a council officer to negotiate an exit to the contract.

It noted the decision was "urgent" because the council was losing "circa £500k per month" in parking income.

The BBC has asked the council to explain how the cameras were faulty, but it has not responded.

Accounts filed by Conduent Public Sector UK Limited with Companies House for 2022-23 said the firm made a loss that year, "due to several unexpected events".

It stated that negotiations with a "local council" over "exiting a contract" concluded in July 2023 and "a £3.25m payment was made to the local council in August 2023".

Conduent was approached for comment but said it no longer owned the "Curbside Management and Public Safety business", which entered into this contract, as it was sold to another firm in May 2024.