Our ref: FOI- 0039-1617

Thank you for your email received by us on 5 April 2017 asking for information about Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) issued on Southwark Bridge Road.

We have considered your request in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our Information Access Policy. I can confirm we do hold the information you require. You asked:

I would like to obtain information about the amount of penalty charge notices issued on Southwark Bridge Road during the period when Tower Bridge was closed for repair starting in October 2016 for three months. Please either supply this to me or let me know where I can obtain it from?

Tower Bridge, which was closed for essential maintenance from 1 October 2016 until 22 December 2016, forms part of the eastern boundary of the Congestion Charging zone. Drivers using the bridge do not normally need to pay the Congestion Charge. The bridge also forms part of the strategic red route network, for which TfL is the Highway Authority. For the purposes of managing traffic flows and congestion in the area during the closure of this busy route, we implemented separate diversion routes for northbound and southbound traffic. Drivers who followed the signed diversion routes did not need to pay the Congestion Charge.

Clear signage was in place along both diversion routes, which were depicted by ‘N’ for northbound and ‘S’ for southbound. Southwark Bridge Road formed part of the southbound diversion only. Signs on the southbound diversion directed traffic across Southwark Bridge, onto Southwark Bridge Road, then left into Marshalsea Road. Drivers who did not follow the signs were deemed to have deviated from the diversion route. Therefore any driver who did not turn left into Marshalsea Road and continued along Southwark Bridge Road became liable for the Congestion Charge.

We enforce the Congestion Charging zone using a network of cameras that capture images of vehicles as they enter, leave or drive within the zone, however we do not track a vehicle’s journey through the zone.  We only retain images of vehicles that have not paid the charge (for the purposes of issuing a PCN) and, while a vehicle may be captured multiple times on its journey through the zone, we only retain the images from one camera site.  Cameras on both diversion routes were switched off while the bridge was closed to ensure that drivers who followed the official diversions were not issued a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN).

During the closure of Tower Bridge, we issued 5,644 PCNs using images captured by our Congestion Charging cameras in Southwark Bridge Road. As explained above however, we cannot confirm the number of those PCNs issued to drivers deviating from the signed diversion route.  

If this is not the information you are looking for, please feel free to contact me.

Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.

Yours sincerely,

Melissa Nichols

FOI Case Officer

FOI Case Management Team

General Counsel

Transport for London