Media release
16 July 2019
New figures show Mersey Gateway PCNs issued reduced by 20%
The latest Mersey Gateway figures show that the number of Penalty Charge Notices issued between April and June 2019 has fallen by 40,000 compared to the same period in 2018.
The new figures equate to a 20% year-on-year drop in the number of penalty charge notices issued to people who haven’t paid for their crossing by midnight the day after their journey.
This comes at a time when traffic levels showed a year-on-year increase of 100,000, with June 2019 recording the highest ever level of average weekday traffic.
The ‘on time’ payment rate for journeys over the new toll bridge that links Runcorn and Widnes has remained at a high of 97%.
The newly-released figures show that between 1 April and 30 June 2019:
- The number of PCNs issued has decreased by 20% compared to this time last year – a drop of 40,000
- The number of crossings over the bridge has increased by 100,000 for the same time period
- Average weekday traffic in June was at its highest ever level (77,000 vehicles a day)
- More than 97% of journeys were paid for before the payment deadline of midnight the day after crossing
- Almost 6 million journeys were made across the bridge during the April/May/June period
- PCN revenue – in line with last quarter – is showing an increase on 2018 figures – this is because more customers are paying PCNs promptly
Neil Conway, Chief Executive of merseyflow, said: “I am delighted to see that we have issued 40,000 less PCNs than we did for the same period last year. A 20% reduction in PCNs issued demonstrates real progress, particularly when crossings increased by 100,000 for the same time period. That of course means more people are paying on time, and the work we do to encourage people to register with us is working. Registering with us is the best way to avoid a PCN – and will make paying for a journey as simple as possible.”
Mike Bennett, Managing Director of the Mersey Gateway Crossings Board, said: “It’s great to see more people using the Mersey Gateway Bridge and less people getting PCNs. We would much rather everyone paid on time or registered with merseyflow. In an ideal world, we don’t want to issue any PCNs, so it is very positive to see this 20% year-on-year reduction.
The quarterly merseyflow dashboard provides a range of in-depth statistics and graphs which show information on the number of crossings made, average daily traffic, types of vehicles using the bridge, number of PCNs issued, traffic by registration type and revenue figures.
It can be viewed at www.merseyflow.co.uk/stats