Former Tory mayoral candidate Susan Hall was landed with a £180 fine for making an “honest mistake” when she tried to pay the new Blackwall tunnel toll.
Ms Hall, leader of the City Hall Conservatives, tried to pay the £4 peak toll by activating an “AutoPay” account via the Transport for London website.
But she was unaware that AutoPay – which automatically deducts fees from motorists’ bank accounts when their vehicle registration plate is spotted on camera – cannot be used retrospectively.
As a result, a £180 penalty charge notice arrived in the post earlier this week – which Ms Hall quickly paid at the £90 reduced rate that applies to payments made within a fortnight.
The Standard has established that her bad luck was even greater than she first realised – as she had previously set up an AutoPay account some years ago to ensure she always paid the congestion charge.
However that AutoPay account – which would also have covered her for the Blackwall and Silvertown tunnel tolls – had been deactivated a couple of years ago, probably on the expiry of the bank card to which it was linked.
Ms Hall said her misfortune highlighted how “confusing” it could be to attempt to pay the tunnel tolls, which were introduced by London mayor Sir Sadiq Khan in April to cover the £2bn cost of building the Silvertown tunnel.
Drivers will pay about £100m a year in tolls over the next 25 years to enable TfL to repay the cost of the PFI contract that was used to build the Silvertown tunnel.
Speaking to The Express, Ms Hall said: “I paid my fine in full, but many Londoners cannot. This confusing and complex system serves only to line TfL’s pockets. It’s hammering Outer London, and needs to be rethought.”
Hall said her case was an example of how “ordinary Londoners are being tripped up by a system designed to punish, not to help”.
Ms Hall, who lives in Harrow, had driven south on August 18 in her Fiat car to join fellow City Hall Tory Tom Turrell in his Bexley and Bromley constituency.
She had planned to go via the M25 but her sat-nav directed her through the Blackwall tunnel, which costs £4 to use at peak times.
She returned home via the Dartford tunnel but and tried to pay the Blackwall toll following day via the TfL website.
Ms Hall, who has a personalised numberplate that features her nickname, told The Standard: “There is no way I wouldn’t want to pay.
“I phoned TfL and got through to this very nice chap. I said: ‘This can’t be right – I’m on AutoPay.’ He asked if I had done this after incurring the toll. I said yes. He said: ‘Then you have to pay any fines separately.’
“How would I have known that? He said there is a little box that you have to tick to say you have read the details.
“I said: This happens to a lot of people, doesn’t it? He paused and said: ‘I know exactly where you are coming from. I do understand you had every intention of paying.’”
TfL said more than 3.2 million drivers were registered with its AutoPay system, including about 650,000 since January, when TfL launched a publicity drive about the imminent tolling of the two tunnels.
Drivers who fail to register with AutoPay have to pay the £4 per crossing peak rate regardless of the time of travel – assuming the journey is within the 6am to 10pm “charging hours” – rather than the £1.50 off-peak rate.
Drivers who drive through either tunnel are given until midnight on the third day after their trip to pay.
In July, The Standard revealed that traffic levels around the Silvertown tunnel had increased at weekends, contrary to a pledge that the tunnel would reduce congestion.
A TfL spokesperson said: "The charges at Silvertown and Blackwall Tunnel that have been in place since April 2025 are already helping to reduce congestion on the approaches to these tunnels.
They have been extensively promoted to drivers across London and the southeast, and the vast majority of drivers are already complying.
“The income from these charges and any enforcement activity is used for operation, maintenance and repayment costs for the tunnels with any surplus reinvested back into the wider public transport network.”
