22,000 C-charge fines overturned

Thousands of congestion charge fines have been overturned after being challenged by drivers.

About 22,000 of the £80 penalty tickets have been scrapped after motorists complained that they had been issued in error.

The number of overturned fines has been revealed by Mayor Ken Livingstone as he was questioned by the London Assembly's transport committee.

Previously, Transport for London-his agency responsible for congestion charging, refused to reveal how many drivers were successfully challenging the fines.

Mr Livingstone revealed that a third of the first 100,000 penalty tickets issued in the first four weeks of congestion charging had been challenged. Of these, two thirds - 22,000 - were torn up after talks between drivers and Capita, the private firm operating the congestion charge technology.

The remaining 11,000 cases are expected to end in formal appeals to the independent parking adjudicatorset up by the Mayor. Already 2,361 such appeals have been lodged, according to the Association of London Government, which administers the parking appeals service.

Roger Evans, Conservative transport spokesman on the London Assembly, said the scale of fines being revoked raised serious questions about the accuracy of the checking system.

He also doubted previous assurances given by the Mayor that all fines would be checked manually before being sent out, to minimise errors.

Mr Livingstone has previously spoken of his concerns about the number of £80 fines being sent out in error, saying last month: "There are far too many people who have been billed who have not driven in."

However, it is unclear how many of the fines are due to errors at Capita's telephone call centre, and how many are due to driver error.

Two problems are thought to account for a number of cases: the mixing up of the letter "O" and zero, and the letter "I" and the number one, when drivers register their numberplate to pay the charge.

Drivers are now being asked to confirm their details in such cases to minimise errors.

The number of fines has stabilised at around 15,000 a week, compared with a first-week peak of 34,000. About 139,000 penalty tickets have been issued in the first six weeks.

Michele Dix, TfL's director of congestion charging, said the enforcement process was "firm and fair" but admitted there had been errors by both Capita and drivers. "In the cases where we've made a mistake, it is rectified following a representation and the [ticket] cancelled," she said.

"Where drivers have tried to pay the charge but made a mistake themselves we also take a fair and responsible approach."

The parking appeals service has cost the Mayor £423,000 to set up, with estimated annual running costs of £700,000.

Mr Livingstone also revealed that it would cost £81million in compensation to Capita to scrap the congestion charge.