FOI request detail

(1) Payment failures on "Pay a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN)"

Request ID: FOI-1416-2021
Date published: 17 November 2020

You asked

Please provide information on whether over the last 12 months: 1. There have been any incidences when the tfl.gov.uk/congestioncharge "Pay a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN)" has been unavailable (whether for maintenance or otherwise), or where there has been a failure to take payment due to technical issues or any customer complaints encountering problems to make the payment. Please provide details of the number of times and the dates when this occurred

We answered

TfL Refs: 1416-2021/1417-2021

Thank you for your requests received by us on 24 October 2020 asking for information about Congestion Charge Penalty Charge Notice (PCNs) payments.

Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy.  I can confirm that we hold some of the information you require. In response to reference 1617-2021, you asked for:

Payment failures on "Pay a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN)"

Please provide information on whether over the last 12 months:

1. There have been any incidences when the tfl.gov.uk/congestion charge "Pay a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN)" has been unavailable (whether for maintenance or otherwise), or where there has been a failure to take payment due to technical issues…

Customers can make PCN payments via our website at: www.tfl.gov.uk/congestioncharge, alternatively by telephone via the Interactive Voice Response (IVR) automated payment line or through the mobile app.

Please see the table below for planned outages for maintenance of the website. During these outages the PCN payment facility was unavailable. These outages were planned around times of least engagement with the payment channels to minimise inconvenience to customers.

2019
Sunday, 3 November 00:01 – 06:00
Sunday, 17 November 01:00 – 11:00
Saturday, 23 November 01:00 – 04:30
Saturday, 23 November 22:00 – Sunday, 24 November 14:00
Saturday, 30 November 00:01 – 16:00
Sunday, 8 December 01:00 – 11:00
Sunday, 15 December 04:00 – 06:30
Sunday, 22 December 02:00 – 06:00
Saturday 28 December 22:00 – Sunday 29 December 06:00

2020
Saturday, 11 January 00:01 – 16:00
Saturday, 18 January 22:00 – Sunday, 19 January 14:00
Saturday, 25 January 22:00 – Sunday, 26 January 12:00 (midday)
Sunday 2 February 05:00 - 14:00
Sunday 9 February 2020 00:00 to 07:00
Saturday, 15 February 22:00 – Sunday, 16 February 13:00
Tuesday, 18 February 22:30 – 23:30
Thursday 20 February 00:30 – 01:45
Friday 21 February 10:00 – 12:00
Saturday 22 February from 22:00 to Sunday 23 February 07:00
Sunday 1 March 2020 00:00 to 05:00
Saturday 7 March 22:00 - Sunday 8 March 08:30
Saturday 14 March 22:00 - Sunday 15 March 14:30
Saturday 21 March 22:00 - Sunday 22 March 07:30
Saturday 28 March 22:00 - Sunday 29 March 03:00
Sunday 12 April 00:01 - 04:30
Saturday 18 22:00 - Sunday 19 April 07:00
Saturday 25 April 22:00 - Sunday 26 April 10:00
Thursday 30 April 23:30 to Friday 1 May 02:00
Saturday 2 May 23:30 – Sunday 3 May 02:00
Thursday, 14 May 22:00 - 23:59
Sunday, 17 May 02:00 – 07:00
Saturday, 23 May 22:00 – Sunday, 24 May 07:00
Sunday, 31 May 01:00 – 02:00
Sunday 7 June 01:00 - 04:00
Saturday, 13 June 00:01 – 08:00
Saturday, 13 June 22:00 – Sunday, 14 June 02:00
Saturday 20 June 08:00 - 14:00
Sunday, 28 June 01:00 – 03:00
Sunday 5 July 2020 00:00 - 07:00
Saturday, 11 July 00:01 – 04:00
Sunday, 19 July 02:00 - 07:00
Thursday, 23 July 00:30 – 03:30
Saturday, 25 July 23:00 – Sunday, 26 July 07:00
Sunday, 2 August 04:00 - 12:00 (Midday)
Sunday, 9 August 00:01 – 07:00
Sunday, 16 August 02:00 - 07:00
Saturday 22 August 23:00 to Sunday 23 August 07:00
Sunday 30 August 00:00 – 05:30
Sunday, 6 September 04:00 - 14:00
Sunday, 13 September 00:01 - 01:00
Tuesday, 15 September 00:15 – 00:45
Sunday, 20 September 00:30 – 07:00
Saturday, 26 September 00:01 – 07:00
Saturday, 26 September 23:00 – Sunday, 27 September 07:00
Sunday, 18 October 01:00 – 07:00
Saturday 24 October 23:00 - Sunday, 25 October 07:00
Sunday, 1 November 00:00 09:00

Please see the following two dates when no payments at all could be taken for PCNs due to unplanned outages. The incidents were resolved quickly and the payment facility was then available again to customers.

Reported Date Summary Incident Description
29/11/2019 No payments processing         16:45PM - 18:50PM
11/01/2020 No payments processing         20:06PM – 21:01PM
11/11/2019 Web Payments Unavailable      14:34PM - 16:14PM
07/12/2019 Web Payments Unavailable     06:45AM - 09:46AM
21/02/2020 Web Payments Unavailable    09:19AM - 12:00PM
11/08/2020 Web Payments Unavailable     08:17AM - 08:44AM
22/09/2020 Web Payments Unavailable    10:09AM - 10:46AM

…or any customer complaints encountering problems to make the payment. Please provide details of the number of times and the dates when this occurred.

I can advise that we do not hold any data on complaints made specifically regarding technical issues preventing payments.

FOI Request: 1417-1718

TFL website down or unavailable (ii) waiting time for telephone payment

Please provide details of the number of times the TFL website has been unavailable for maintenance or otherwise over the last 12 months, where possible citing the specific days and period of time for which it was not available.

Please refer to the tables provided above in response to FOI-1416-2021.

Secondly, please provide details on the average waiting times for customers to pay Penalty Charges via telephone 0343222333 and in particular the period from June 2020 to August 2020.

The average speed of answering on the PCN Payment line specifically to the PCN Payment telephone IVR option from June – August 2020 is provided here.

Year Month Average Speed Of Answer (in seconds)
2020 June 8
2020 July 8
2020 August 15

Also provide information on whether payment via the telephone has not been available to customers.

The times when telephone payments were unavailable are as follows:

Reported Date Summary Incident Description
04/11/2019 IVR payments unavailable 08:10 – 10:51
19/11/2019 IVR payments unavailable 15:49 - 16:44
17/03/2020 IVR Payments unavailable 09:20 - 09:45

If you are considering submitting a further FOI request please think carefully about whether the request is essential at this current time, as answering FOI requests will require the use of limited resources and the attention of staff who could be supporting other essential activity. Where requests are made, please note that our response time may be impacted by the current situation.

If this is not the information you are looking for, or if you are unable to access it for any reason, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal as well as information on copyright and what to do if you would like to re-use any of the information we have disclosed.

Yours sincerely

 

Jasmine Howard
FOI Case Officer
FOI Case Management Team
General Counsel
Transport for London
 
   

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