I’ve got a PCN for the Dartford Crossing or a Clean Air Zone. What now?

Dart Charge

There are no barriers at the Dartford Crossing. Cameras read the number plate and the charge is paid separately, which means the crossing itself gives you no sign that anything is outstanding.

The deadline is the thing to hold on to: you have to pay by midnight the day after you cross. That is the single biggest cause of these PCNs. People pay two days later, or wait for a bill that is never coming, and the penalty has already been generated.

The crossing charges from 1 September 2025 are £3.50 for a car, or £2.80 on a pre-pay account; £4.20 for a two-axle van, or £3.60 pre-pay; and £8.40 for an HGV with three or more axles, or £7.20 pre-pay. Residents of Dartford and Thurrock can use a residents’ scheme at £25 a year.

Clean Air Zones

A Clean Air Zone charges some vehicles for driving inside a defined area, based on emissions standards rather than on where you park or how you drive. Whether you are charged depends on the zone’s class and on your vehicle.

The classes work cumulatively. Class B covers buses, coaches, taxis, private hire vehicles and heavy goods vehicles. Class C adds vans and minibuses. Class D adds cars. A compliant vehicle pays nothing at all, in any class.

The zones in operation as published are Bath (class C), Birmingham (D), Bradford (C), Bristol (D), Portsmouth (B), Sheffield (C) and Tyneside, covering Newcastle and Gateshead (C).

London: ULEZ and the Congestion Charge

These are TfL schemes, not Clean Air Zones, and the figures are quite different. The Ultra Low Emission Zone charge is £12.50 a day for cars, motorcycles, vans up to 3.5 tonnes and minibuses up to 5 tonnes. The Congestion Charge is £18 a day from 2 January 2026, up from £15.

All three schemes are camera-driven. A number plate is read, the record is checked against payments and exemptions, and where nothing matches, a notice is generated from the DVLA keeper record. Nobody reviewed your journey.

That is worth knowing because the most common causes are administrative rather than deliberate: a payment made a day late, an account holding an old registration, a hire car whose charge the company did not pass on, or a vehicle that was assumed to be compliant and was not.

What the penalties actually are

A Dart Charge PCN is £70, reduced to £35 if you pay within 14 days. If it remains unpaid, a Charge Certificate adds 50%, roughly 28 days after a Notice of Rejection.

In London, a ULEZ or Congestion Charge PCN is £180, reduced to £90 if paid within 14 days. If it is still unpaid after 28 days, a Charge Certificate takes it to £270.

For a Clean Air Zone outside London, the penalty is set by the city that issued it, and the amount is on your notice. This page does not guess at it.

None of these is a criminal matter. They are civil penalties, they produce no criminal record, and they put no points on a licence.

The keeper is liable

As with council parking penalties, liability sits with the registered keeper rather than with whoever was driving. If the vehicle was hired, the hire company will usually pass the charge on to you under the rental agreement, which is why a notice can arrive weeks after a trip.

1. Identify the issuer: National Highways for Dart Charge, a named city council for a Clean Air Zone, or Transport for London for ULEZ and the Congestion Charge.
2. Check the date of the crossing or the journey, and the date on the notice. These schemes are timing-driven and the discount windows are short.
3. For Dart Charge, check whether the crossing was in fact paid — late by a day is a different situation from never paid, and both are worth establishing before writing anything.
4. For a Clean Air Zone, check your vehicle on the official GOV.UK checker before assuming it was chargeable. A compliant vehicle pays nothing, and compliance is not obvious from the age of the car alone.
5. If the vehicle was hired, find the rental agreement and the dates. The charge usually reaches you through the hire company rather than directly.
6. Decide inside the discount window. Dart Charge halves to £35 within 14 days; a London PCN halves to £90 within 14 days.
7. To dispute a Dart Charge PCN, make representations to Dart Charge within 28 days. If they are rejected, you have 28 days to appeal to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal.
8. Set up a pre-pay account or an auto-pay arrangement if you use a crossing or zone regularly. Most repeat penalties come from the same missed deadline happening twice.

These are among the least ignorable letters on this site, because the escalation is arithmetic and it is quick.

A Dart Charge PCN that could have been settled for £35 becomes £70, and then a Charge Certificate adds 50% on top. A London PCN moves from £90 to £180 to £270 on a 28-day clock. Nothing about that depends on anyone looking at the file.

It is also worth knowing that these penalties do not quietly expire. The civil enforcement route behind them continues past the stage this site covers, and dealing with the notice early is the cheapest version of every possible outcome.

What you are not obliged to do is accept a notice that is wrong. If the crossing was paid, if the vehicle is compliant, if you were not the keeper on that date, or if the vehicle was hired to someone else, those are proper grounds and they should be put in writing inside the deadline.

The one argument that does not help is not having known about the scheme. Signage and publicity questions occasionally succeed on their own facts, but “I did not realise there was a charge” is not by itself a ground.

Dart Charge

Make representations to Dart Charge within 28 days of the PCN. If they are rejected, you have a further 28 days to appeal to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal, which is independent of National Highways and free to use.

The points that tend to matter are factual and checkable: proof that the crossing was paid within the deadline, evidence that the vehicle was sold or hired out on that date, or a registration mismatch on an account you already held.

Clean Air Zones

Each city runs its own process, and the challenge route and deadline are printed on the notice. The first thing worth doing is checking the vehicle on the official GOV.UK checker — if it is compliant, the charge should not have applied at all, and that is a straightforward point to make.

Where a city rejects a challenge, the onward appeal is to the independent adjudicator for that area. Your notice will name it.

London

ULEZ and Congestion Charge PCNs follow the same civil enforcement pattern as council parking penalties: representations to TfL, then an appeal to London Tribunals if they are rejected. Both stages have deadlines printed on the paperwork.

Writing it

Keep it factual and attach the evidence rather than describing it. Give the vehicle registration, the notice reference, the date and time of the journey, and the single point you are making. A payment receipt with a timestamp, a rental agreement, or a compliance check result will do more than several paragraphs of explanation.

Do it inside the window even if you are still gathering documents. A short, timely representation that says what evidence is coming is worth more than a complete one that arrives after the deadline.

When exactly do I have to pay the Dartford Crossing?

By midnight the day after you cross. There are no barriers, so nothing at the crossing tells you the charge is outstanding, and paying two days later is late. That single deadline causes more of these PCNs than anything else.

How much is a Dart Charge PCN?

£70, reduced to £35 if you pay within 14 days. If it stays unpaid, a Charge Certificate adds 50%, roughly 28 days after a Notice of Rejection.

How much does a Clean Air Zone charge?

It depends on the city — each one sets its own daily charge and its own penalty amount, so there is no single national figure. Check your vehicle on the official GOV.UK checker, and use the amount printed on your own notice rather than a general figure found online.

Is the London ULEZ a Clean Air Zone?

No. ULEZ and the Congestion Charge are Transport for London schemes with their own rules and figures: £12.50 a day for ULEZ, and £18 a day for the Congestion Charge from 2 January 2026. Appeals go to London Tribunals rather than to a city council adjudicator.

I was driving a hire car. Why has this reached me?

Liability sits with the registered keeper, and hire companies generally pass the charge on to the hirer under the rental agreement. That is why a notice can arrive weeks after the trip. The rental agreement and its dates are the documents that matter if you need to dispute it.

How do I appeal a Dart Charge PCN?

Make representations to Dart Charge within 28 days. If they are rejected, you have 28 days to appeal to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal, which is independent and free. Proof of a payment made inside the deadline, or evidence that the vehicle was sold or hired out, are the points most likely to be decisive.