A penalty notice for a trip nobody remembers
A penalty charge notice arrives for a crossing six weeks ago. The truck was on a one-off load into Kent, the driver was covering for someone, and the crossing was not on the usual route. Nobody paid it because nobody knew it had happened. Another letter is for a city clean air zone that one of your older tractor units entered on a diversion.
Meanwhile, customers whose loads regularly cross tolled routes are being charged the same rate as everyone else, because the toll is never linked to their jobs.
Why the charges get lost
Road charges are triggered by where a truck goes, but they are paid, if at all, by an office that does not see where it went. The link between the trip and the charge is left to memory.
- Some charges must be paid within a short window after the trip, and nobody is watching.
- Account-based payments cover some vehicles and not others, often because of fleet changes.
- Drivers are not sure which zones or crossings apply to which vehicles.
- Penalties arrive weeks later, addressed to the registered keeper, and have to be traced back to a driver and a load.
- Charges are posted as general overheads, so they are never recharged to the customer.
What the missed charges cost
Penalties are far more expensive than the charge itself, and the admin to trace, pay or challenge each one takes time. Charges absorbed into overheads mean some loads are priced below their real cost. And when a customer's route always includes a charge that you never pass on, their rate is lower than it looks. None of this needs to be complicated; it needs the trip and the charge in the same place.
The charge tracker we build
- You tell us the tolls, crossings and zones you are exposed to and which of your vehicles have accounts or exemptions. The system holds that list; we do not advise on which charges apply to you.
- Telematics trails are checked each day for crossings and zone entries, using the boundaries and charging points you have set up.
- Each detected event is matched to the vehicle, driver and load.
- Events covered by an account are checked off against the account statement when it arrives. Events not covered are flagged for payment the same day, with the details someone needs to pay it.
- Charges are attached to the load, so they appear in your load costing and can be recharged on the invoice where your terms with that customer allow.
- Penalty notices that still arrive are logged against the event and load, with the evidence of payment if there was one.
| Step | Now | With the tracker |
|---|---|---|
| Knowing a charge happened | Penalty letter weeks later | Detected from the trail the next day |
| Paying it | If someone remembers | Flagged with the details to pay |
| Checking account statements | Rarely | Matched to detected events |
| Recharging customers | Never | Attached to the load |
After
Charges are paid on time because the office knows about them the next day. Account statements are checked against what actually happened. Penalty notices become rare, and the ones that come can be answered quickly with the trip data. And the charges finally appear against the loads that caused them, so you can recharge them or at least price them in.
When you add a truck or change an account, the tracker shows which vehicles are not covered, which is where many of the penalties begin.
Checklist
- Penalty notices arrive for trips nobody remembers.
- You are not sure every vehicle is on the right accounts.
- Tolls and zone charges are posted as overheads.
- Customers' rates do not reflect charges on their routes.
- Tracing a penalty to a driver and load takes a morning.