Charging at the Silvertown and Blackwall tunnels was introduced in stages during 2025, with a short grace period before penalties began. An FOI investigation later showed just how much enforcement followed.
7 April 2025
Charging began
Drivers started to be charged for using the tunnels.
30 April 2025
Penalty enforcement began
After a grace period, an unpaid charge could become a penalty.
Mid-November 2025
A quarter of vehicles penalised
The FOI snapshot covering the first seven months of charging.
630,000
vehicles issued a PCN
25.7% of unique vehicles
£40-48m
collected in penalties
April to mid-Nov 2025
What this measures: FOI figures reported by Highways Magazine, covering April to mid-November 2025. The 25.7% is measured against unique vehicles using the tunnels, and the revenue is an approximate range.
In the first seven months of charging, penalty notices reached roughly one in four of every vehicle that used the tunnels, about 630,000 vehicles, and TfL collected an estimated £40 to £48 million in penalties.
How to read these figures
The 25.7% is measured against unique vehicles using the tunnels, not individual journeys, and the revenue is reported as an approximate range rather than an exact audited total. Even read cautiously, it shows how quickly a missed charge becomes a fine.
Why it matters here
This is exactly the gap ChargeGuard is meant to close: a private reminder to pay the small charge on time, before it turns into a much larger penalty.