Dartford Crossing

At the risk of re-opening old wounds (sorry Dutto), we went over the bridge a couple of weeks ago on the way to Dover and it was great.

I paid a couple of days before on the website. No need to sign up, you can make a single payment of £2.50 (or more if you're going to cross more than once) up to 12 months in advance or 24 hours in arrears. It recognised the registration as my ancient Rapport ('Trafic as Camper'), which many services don't, and it's been weeks since so I guess the numberplate recognition worked OK.

It just worked, and there were no queues at all. So, although it was 50p more than last year, I must have saved much more than that in petrol by not inching forward for over half an hour.

I was sort of hoping it would be rubbish, so that I could say sorry for disagreeing (how British is that?), but...

Came back via the M40 though

Related: I had to use the M6 toll last month, because the M6 was showing a 56 minute delay at J10 and I had a 2 year old in the back - no fun in motorway traffic. I had to stop at a barrier! And pay a person! How old-fashioned, and it was £5.50, what a rip-off.

I'm fully in agreement with all those who say that these roads should be free, I reckon I already paid for them didn't I? Especially as the van costs £230 to tax. But I don't think it's going to happen any time soon.

Well I am well satisfied with the new M25 toll.
Have been across 8 times this year. Only 1.67 each trip.
Its still free at night.

Regards

Micky

Agree with some of the above, paid in advance online for two crossings. Outward, no hold ups at all, a breeze compared with previous years. Return, not so good, joined the back of the queue the moment we got on the M25, three hours later we got to the tunnels.. The only explanation was the ongoing work to install the new system.. Next time may be better.
The only saving grace is if you're going to be held up, a motorhome is the vehicle to be held up in. We had lunch, brew a few hours later, access to toilet etc..

Yes its still ongoing! over running like most contracts. Sometimes a hold up for dangerous loads as well.
Its very popular even with a charge. Good job the bridge was built. I forget what it was like with only the tunnel each way. Thinking back it was always busy,with roadworks, on the A2 road to Dover until a few years ago.

Regards

Micky

I haven't forgotten what it was like - years ago I had a delicate and urgent load to deliver to some freight forwarders just north of the tunnel for onward shipment to a development project in Africa somewhere I think. I didn't want to trust it to the normal pallet people, so I rented a 7.5 tonne box van and took it myself. I came out of Newport Pagnell services after making good time from Wales and stopping for tea, straight into a queue which ended at the Dartford tunnel. Nightmare.

Hi DART CHARGE BEWARE!!!!! A warning to everyone. I paid in advance for a return crossing. £5. I have the receipt as I keep ALL my receipts. I went through the crossing on the outward journey. No problems. I came back across the bridge on the homeward journey. This was 21st December 2015. On the 16th April 2016 Yes, that is nearly four months later!!! I got a penalty charge notice for the crossing on the 21st. On checking the dart charge website it has classed me as a Class C goods van. Crossing cost £3.00. As I was away on holiday at the time the letter arrived I past the short payment term and now the fine is £105.00. You cannot talk to anyone as the system does not allow it. I have duly filled in the representation form and enclosed it with a photo of my motorhome, a receipt for £5.00 as issued by them and a snotty letter telling them that this problem was supposed to have been sorted out in 2014 and to cancel the charge forthwith. Beware motorhome users in case you are mistaken for a van and please allow up to four months for them to pursue you!! Writing to the Secretary of State now to see what the statute of limitations is for service of penalty charges. Love computers and red tape.

I paid £5 in advance for two crossings in June last year and had no problem.  I've paid for three this year (going west on the M25 on the first return) and will take your advice to keep the receipts for several months after crossing.

A couple of years ago I accidentally transgressed a no go area in the car, it would have caused chaos if I'd stopped at the junction and tried to reverse back into the traffic so I carried on.  I was photographed and just after we left for a 4 week trip a letter with a fine arrived at home.  By the time we came back the initial 2 weeks had expired and the fine had doubled and we had 24hrs to pay before court action was instigated.  I had ample evidence that we had not been at home and therefore that notice had not been served but didn't have the will to add another battle to the list!

Would a Dart Account be the answer to all these issues. We have one  for the the car and motorhome and have had no problems so far!
You have to add £10 to open an account and ours is loaded at the moment, but you do get slightly cheaper crossing journeys.

Pete

Dart account gives crossing for £1.67 instead of £2.50. Downside of account is if you don't use the crossing for a year, they cancel the account, but return the balance to your bank card.

It did recognise my Gloucester at the car rate, and didn't charge for the Smart being towed on a trailer behind. Wonder if it had been on an A Frame?

PLOUGHLIN wrote:Dart account gives crossing for £1.67 instead of £2.50. Downside of account is if you don't use the crossing for a year, they cancel the account, but return the balance to your bank card.

It did recognise my Gloucester at the car rate, and didn't charge for the Smart being towed on a trailer behind. Wonder if it had been on an A Frame?

Are you sure that they cancel the account? I know that you can only keep prebooked tickets (at £2.50 each) for a yesr but I thought thaf the account balance had no time limit.

What Spocky's post does show is that whoever it is that runs the Crossing either isn't putting in enough resources to ID and chase payment or the number of vehicles crossing without pre-payment is much higher than they prepared for in their Kent/Essex bubble.

I must say it would be the very last thing on my mind pre a trip that passed through that part of the world.

Just for the hell of it I've fired off an email to the Secretary of State for Transport as it's his responsibility ultimately and his name all over the website and paperwork. I have asked what is the time limit for service of a penalty notice because every other Act that I know of is, service on the registered owner within 14 or 28 days from the alleged offence. NOT 164 days later.
Will let members know the response. I have also made an official complaint against the crossing on the .gov website for wrongly identifying my vehicle, we all know they love statistics and number of complaints is included in those statistics so will update that as well. In response to masai warrior friends in Kent and Essex have had all sorts of problems with their accounts so that's why I pay as I go.

Phew, this post reminded me to check my account was up and running still as using the crossing in a week or so. 

inspiredron wrote:

PLOUGHLIN wrote:Dart account gives crossing for £1.67 instead of £2.50. Downside of account is if you don't use the crossing for a year, they cancel the account, but return the balance to your bank card.

It did recognise my Gloucester at the car rate, and didn't charge for the Smart being towed on a trailer behind. Wonder if it had been on an A Frame?

Are you sure that they cancel the account? I know that you can only keep prebooked tickets (at £2.50 each) for a yesr but I thought thaf the account balance had no time limit.

Look at clause 10, Inactive Accounts of the T&C. [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

"If you do not use your Account for a period of more than12consecutive months then we will write to you to inform you of your non-use (the Non-use Letter) and if you do not recommence using the Account within 30 days of the date of the Non-use Letter, we may close your Account and cancel any Tag linked to your Account"

The key is use of the account, not using the crossing.

To keep the account active, just simply log on and check the status etc.

Maybe.

I haven't used the crossing since May 3 2015 and I haven't yet noticed a non-use letter.

I can still log on, or at least I could a few minutes ago. I shall now have to wait to see if that is enough to stop me getting the non-use letter.

If I get one I'll let you know, if I don't get one I'll probably forget this conversation entirely.

Will look forward to hearing the outcome. I haven't used the crossing since July 2015.

I may email them for clarification.

PLOUGHLIN wrote:Will look forward to hearing the outcome. I haven't used the crossing since July 2015.

I may email them for clarification.

Sending a letter giving 30 days notice of closure is not too bad though if you were away for 3 months it could be embarrassing. But you can check on line that you have an account so maybe that is the answer if you are away for an extended period.

I had to top up in December and was pleased that I could add £5 only even though that took me to less than £10 total.

I email Dart Charge for clarification, their reply seems to say that to keep the account live a payment into the account has to be made within 12 +1 months, otherwise closure will ensue.

Here is their response.

"
Dear Peter

Thank you for contacting Dart Charge.

If the account is closed, you will not lose any of the remaining credit on the account and this will be refunded back to you in full.

After 12 months of account inactivity, you will be notified that the account will soon be closed and you will have 30 days to make a payment to keep the account open. The payment is just account credit and this can be refunded to you at any time.

If you receive an account closure notice due to inactivity, I would advise you to call us first to check the status of your account and we will advise you further on this.

If you have any further questions, please contact our service team on 0300 3000 120 between 5.00am and midnight, seven days a week. Alternatively, you can email your queries to us at [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.].

Yours sincerely,

Richard Hill, Charging Service Representative"

Thank you Peter for getting the clarification. Sounds like I will be getting my letter soon then. Just in time for my next crossing in July.

Reply from The Dartford crossing. I consider this a worry, especially for those using the crossing and going away for extended holidays. I do not consider it satisfactory.
 
"Thank you for contacting Dart Charge.

I am sorry to hear that an error was made for this one crossing on 21/12/2015 that the class of vehicle was incorrect and subsequently this has generated the Penalty Charge Notice (PCN).

“The Road User Charging Scheme (Penalty Charges, Adjudication and Enforcement) (England) Regulations 2013 does not specify any timescales between a contravention and the issue of a penalty charge notice (PCN). We do, however, appreciate that it’s in everyone’s best interests to make road users aware of contraventions as quickly as possible and we will endeavour to do so.”

We can confirm that the representation you made against the PCN was received on 12/05/2016. The Enforcement Department will issue a response to your representation within 56 days of that date. 

Again apologies for this issue being raised and it will be sorted out in due course."

So to be clear 164 days after the offence is OK to issue a penalty notice and then after representation is made to have it cancelled another 56 days to wait before it is cancelled. I don't think that is as quickly as possible!
I am still waiting for the Secretary of State for Transport to reply, surprise.

56 days is the period allowed in the regulations. I would expect a decision well in advance of that.

If they don't respond within 56 days, the PCN is deemed rescinded. It does seem strange that there is no time limit on serving the PCN.

Not sure if it's been mentioned but if any of you are blue badge holders it's free. You do need to register which I think is £10 for something like 3years.  Seem to recall it allows you to use some French bridges free too, as I believe the ownership of the QE2 is in French hands now.