Tyne Tunnel charges thousands of drivers over unpaid tolls

Barriers are being removed to make journeys quicker and reduce congestion and CO2 emissions

The Tyne Tunnel operator asked the UK's driver licensing body for motorists' details 239,000 times in the first year of its new toll payment system.

TT2 used the details to issue penalties for unpaid tolls after it introduced a barrier-free system in May 2020.

The company said just under 99% of drivers paid the toll correctly.

"Changing a tolling system that has been in operation for decades at the tunnels, will naturally take some getting used to," a spokesperson said.

"This is why we have not ditched the toll booths overnight and are, instead, implementing a carefully planned, phased approach to introducing open-road-tolling, before the end of November."

The new system allows motorists to drive through without waiting for a barrier to lift, but they must wait for the red light to turn green.

"Pay later" customers are issued with an Unpaid Toll Charge Notice (UTCN) for £60 - reduced to £30 if paid within 14 days - if they do not pay the toll by midnight the following day.

Pre-paid customers are sent a notice if they drive through on red, even if there is enough money for the toll fee in their account.

The unpaid toll charge notice threatens debt collection or court for non-payment

Figures from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) show TT2 made 239,411 requests for drivers' information using its KADOE system - used to submit applications for details of a registered keeper of a vehicle - between May 2020 and June 2021.

The DVLA said TT2 set up its KADOE account in March 2020 but made no requests until 4 May.

TT2 would not confirm how many UTCNs it had issued but said it did not correspond to the number of information requests as sometimes a request returned no match and had to be resubmitted.

However, the DVLA said provision of a valid vehicle registration number would result in a response "100% of the time".

It also confirmed the reason given by TT2 in all its requests for driver details was non-payment of tolls.

In January TT2 said the number of drivers not paying was approximately 380 a day. This would amount to more than 161,000 since the new system started operating.

In response to questions by BBC Newcastle the company accepted the number of UTCNs sent out was at least 100,000.

As of September 28% of appeals against its UTCNs had been successful.

TT2 was given a loan of £7m from North East Joint Transport Committee reserves in September after a drop in income caused by the pandemic threatened to delay removal of the rest of the barriers.