MORE than nine out of ten drivers who appeal against London congestion charge notices are having their £80 fines cancelled by an independent panel.

Transport for London (TfL), Ken Livingstone’s transport authority, has won only 71 of the 1,125 cases heard so far. In all the cases TfL had refused to accept initial written representations from drivers, forcing them to take their cases to the congestion charge arbiters appointed by the Lord Chancellor.

Motoring groups believe that thousands of innocent drivers paid the penalty because they wanted to avoid the bureaucracy and uncertainty of the appeals process.

TfL failed to contest 949 of the cases and lost 94 after the arbiters heard evidence from both sides. The remaining 11 cases were withdrawn by the drivers concerned. In the vast majority of cases the penalty was issued after mistakes were made in entering the numberplate or date when the driver was paying the charge.

Another 3,135 appeals remain to be heard from the first 11 weeks of the congestion charge, which has raised more than £10 million in penalties alone. A total of 220,000 penalties have been issued so far, with the number issued per week creeping back up from 15,000 during March to 20,000 last week.

The income from fines is helping Mr Livingstone to make up the shortfall in profits from the scheme. He had predicted that it would generate an annual surplus of £130 million to be invested in transport projects.

The total for the first year is likely to be less than £100 million because the scheme has been more successful than Mr Livingstone had expected in reducing traffic. The number of cars entering the eight-square-mile charging zone is down by 17 per cent, against TfL’s estimate of 10 to 15 per cent.

The RAC Foundation called on Mr Livingstone to compensate drivers for the distress caused by having to contest wrongly issued penalties.

Edmund King, the foundation’s executive director, said: “It is staggering to find such an overwhelming proportion of appeals are successful, especially considering TfL had assured us that they were not issuing tickets if there was any doubt at all that they had read the numberplate correctly.

“We are getting numerous calls from distressed drivers who have never received so much as a parking ticket but are getting fines from TfL. If Mr Livingstone cannot tighten the procedures to stop these mistakes, then he should compensate drivers for the anguish and inconvenience they suffer.”

Mr King said that there could not be 20,000 drivers a week deliberately avoiding paying the charge. “It appears Mr Livingstone is boosting the scheme’s income by a draconian and error-ridden system.”

In the first month of the scheme, which began on February 17, TfL dropped 22,000 cases after representations from drivers. During March TfL adopted a cautious policy on issuing penalties after an outcry from motorists who were fined even though they had never been in the zone.

TfL said that it was dropping so many cases at the appeal stage as drivers were failing to produce all the evidence in the first representation. Drivers often throw away their receipts after a couple of days and then receive a penalty in the post.

Those who pay by text message may delete the confirmation sent to their phone. Those who pay by ringing the call centre will not be sent a receipt unless they ask for one, and even then they will not receive it until it is too late to rectify any mistake.

Later this month TfL will begin towing away the cars of drivers who have failed to respond to three penalty notices.

The London Assembly’s transport committee is to publish its first review of the congestion charge next month and is expected to criticise TfL for withholding information about the impact of the scheme. John Biggs, its chairman, said: “Our major concern is that small businesses will relocate away from the zone.”

• The congestion charge in London applies from 7am to 6.30pm, Monday to Friday excluding public holidays. The cost per day is £5 (residents £2.50 per week). The penalty is £80, reduced to £40 if paid within 14 days, increased to £120 after 28 days. Vehicles clamped after three unpaid penalties.