Tyne Tunnel: Rental firm fears bailiffs over customer toll fines

Drivers say the signs among roadworks are confusing

A vehicle rental firm says it faces the threat of bailiffs over unpaid toll charge notices (UTCNs) for the Tyne Tunnel incurred by its customers.

Peterborough-based In The Future Ltd is calling for tunnel operator TT2 to reissue the UTCNs to the drivers.

Director Alastair Ross said he was "being threatened with increased fines and legal action when we as a company have never been near the Tyne Tunnel".

TT2 said it was "simpler for everyone" if it just dealt with the firms.

Chief executive Philip Smith said rental companies were "in the ideal position to recover the costs from whoever was the driver at that point".

But Mr Ross said hire firms were not in control of where their vehicles were driven "and, until a fine comes through, are unaware an offence has even been committed".

The tunnels are now completely cashless and the old toll booths are being removed

"Fortunately our customer has paid some of them but we had to email them to do so and take him at his word he had paid," Mr Ross said.

"If not we will end up in court with bailiffs threatened."

Hire companies, as registered keepers of the vehicles, are initially sent penalty notices but their contracts usually allow for these to be reissued to customers. An administration fee is often charged for passing on the driver's details.

The British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association (BVRLA) said it was common for fines and tickets to be reissued in this way.

Director of fleet services Amanda Brandon said the BVRLA had "collaborated with the operators of the [Tyne] Tunnels to reach an agreement that, if a vehicle were hired or leased, the outstanding toll could be passed to the customer".

"However, this was not enshrined in the legislation," she said.

The current tunnel bylaws say the keeper of the vehicle and the driver are "jointly and severally liable" for toll payment, meaning TT2 can require either to pay a UTCN.

Motorists must pay the toll by midnight on the day after their journey

Mr Ross said his customers signed a rental agreement accepting liability for fines and this was common practice.

But, when the firm applied to transfer liability for the 17 UTCNs it had received in the past two months, TT2 refused, he said.

The BVRLA said TT2 had decided in December "they no longer had the resource to deal with transferring the toll to the customer".

Mr Smith said it was "causing unnecessary confusion for all parties".

It is common for rental companies to have agreements to pass on liability for fines to customers

Both the Tamar and Dartford crossings, in south-west and south-east England, said they would reissue penalty notices to drivers if given evidence of their details and rental agreement by hire companies.

The Humber Bridge said it issued penalty notices to the hire company as keeper of the vehicle.

Similarly, hire firm Europcar said it always paid Tyne Tunnel fines itself and then charged the customer, rather than passing on their details.

Another hire company, Enterprise, declined to comment but one of its customers, Scott Walton, incurred a penalty in the tunnel in May and said the firm charged an administration fee two weeks later, passed on his details and told him the fine would be reissued to him.

"I've not heard anything from Tyne Tunnel," he said.

"I don't have a problem paying the fine, so I'd like them to either send it out or at least know it's been written off."