Sick & Tired of Dartford Crossing Causing Horrific Queues...
Discussion
Does anyone have a telephone number to complain to these jokers "when it is actually happening". Its no good typing a strongly worded email after the fact.
I sat in the tailbacks that made the news on Tuesday at 3pm for over an hour purely because of the barriers stopping people for the toll. Now I thought that once the tailbacks reached a certain point then the barriers were opened and it became free to pass easing congestion. Having stationary traffic back to beyond Jct 4 on the M25 is a joke and to say I was fuming when they still wanted their 2 quid once I reached the barrier was disgusting. God knows what it costs in pollution and petrol. Anyway , once through the road was as clear as a bell.
So , is there a number to rant on when you are sat in traffic so they get to know how far back the queues go ??? How do you get to speak to "the person in charge" who makes the decision to open the gates ???
( yes I know its all changing to congestion style enforcement but not for a while so are they bending us over more and more to squeeze the last few quid out of us )
I sat in the tailbacks that made the news on Tuesday at 3pm for over an hour purely because of the barriers stopping people for the toll. Now I thought that once the tailbacks reached a certain point then the barriers were opened and it became free to pass easing congestion. Having stationary traffic back to beyond Jct 4 on the M25 is a joke and to say I was fuming when they still wanted their 2 quid once I reached the barrier was disgusting. God knows what it costs in pollution and petrol. Anyway , once through the road was as clear as a bell.
So , is there a number to rant on when you are sat in traffic so they get to know how far back the queues go ??? How do you get to speak to "the person in charge" who makes the decision to open the gates ???
( yes I know its all changing to congestion style enforcement but not for a while so are they bending us over more and more to squeeze the last few quid out of us )
Palpatine to Darth Vader: "Patience, my friend."
Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
My guess is it will be someone in the Highways Agency who would instruct Connect Plus Services to do so. Who that person in the HA is I have no idea. Maybe ask your MP to seek an answer from the current Secretary of State for Transport?
Don't hold your breath though: I found this. In a letter to a local Residents Association
I'm fortunate in that mostly I can choose when to cross anyway, so can normally avoid the worst of it.
Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
My guess is it will be someone in the Highways Agency who would instruct Connect Plus Services to do so. Who that person in the HA is I have no idea. Maybe ask your MP to seek an answer from the current Secretary of State for Transport?
Don't hold your breath though: I found this. In a letter to a local Residents Association
A LB Havering Councillor said:
It was recently announced that the Highways Agency are willing to consider raising the barriers at the Dartford Crossing during busy times to ease severe traffic delays.
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport, Mike Penning, said the Agency is willing to consider the possibility of lifting the barriers when congestion is particularly severe. Quite when congestion is deemed to be severe (which is most of the time!) or not is a moot point and would, of course, impact upon the thousands of motorists of whom some would pay a ‘toll' and some would not.
You can work out from the politician's name how long ago that was. Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport, Mike Penning, said the Agency is willing to consider the possibility of lifting the barriers when congestion is particularly severe. Quite when congestion is deemed to be severe (which is most of the time!) or not is a moot point and would, of course, impact upon the thousands of motorists of whom some would pay a ‘toll' and some would not.
Geekman said:
It seems to have got vastly worse in the last year, does anyone know why?
Maybe all the booth operators whose jobs will go in October are being deliberately slow in giving change? Stupid me managed to leave my Dart Tag on the coffee table last week (I don't keep it in the car). I twigged too late, so had to pay. I only had a fiver to hand and I was amazed by how long it took for the simple job of returning two coins to me.I'm fortunate in that mostly I can choose when to cross anyway, so can normally avoid the worst of it.
Edited by Red Devil on Thursday 21st August 19:03
Define regularly. 
I didn't have reason to commute (or cross daily at any time) but I used it often enough to know what the queues were like and which times to avoid. You couldn't be more wrong about the pre-bridge days. I'm old enough to remember when there was no crossing there at all! I passed my driving test just shy of a year after the first (West) tunnel opened.
During the post banking crisis recession there was a fall back in the extent of the queues. It has got gradually worse since and there is now more congestion and for longer time periods. I think that contrast is what people are noticing now.
By ticking the relevant box and selecting the range of junctions you want, the Traffic England site allows you to tap into what the traffic cameras see anywhere on the motorway system.
All you need is a tablet PC to give you a decent size image - http://www.trafficengland.com/motorwayflow.aspx#sc... - a really handy resource.
The only drawback is it doesn't stream in real time though. You have to manually update it.
I didn't have reason to commute (or cross daily at any time) but I used it often enough to know what the queues were like and which times to avoid. You couldn't be more wrong about the pre-bridge days. I'm old enough to remember when there was no crossing there at all! I passed my driving test just shy of a year after the first (West) tunnel opened.
During the post banking crisis recession there was a fall back in the extent of the queues. It has got gradually worse since and there is now more congestion and for longer time periods. I think that contrast is what people are noticing now.
By ticking the relevant box and selecting the range of junctions you want, the Traffic England site allows you to tap into what the traffic cameras see anywhere on the motorway system.
All you need is a tablet PC to give you a decent size image - http://www.trafficengland.com/motorwayflow.aspx#sc... - a really handy resource.
The only drawback is it doesn't stream in real time though. You have to manually update it.
It's going automatic from October which will surely help.
Does anyone know if they are scrapping the barriers and booths completely for free-flowing carriageway? Or will it still be necessary to drive through the booths for the ANPR cameras to work? If so, there are bound to still be queues as everyone tussles to join the shortest lane.
Does anyone know if they are scrapping the barriers and booths completely for free-flowing carriageway? Or will it still be necessary to drive through the booths for the ANPR cameras to work? If so, there are bound to still be queues as everyone tussles to join the shortest lane.
Drove through Friday after queuing from the M20 junction. It looks like the sensors are just in the drop to the entrance to the tunnels so I suspect it will be free flowing carriageway. Or as free flowing as it can be reducing 5 lanes to 4.
Still, it's got to be better than it is now. The pollution must be crazy.
Still, it's got to be better than it is now. The pollution must be crazy.
Red Devil said:
Define regularly.
http://www.trafficengland.com/motorwayflow.aspx#sc... - a really handy resource.
The only drawback is it doesn't stream in real time though. You have to manually update it.
Great stuff. I'll be using that the next time.http://www.trafficengland.com/motorwayflow.aspx#sc... - a really handy resource.
The only drawback is it doesn't stream in real time though. You have to manually update it.
vrsmxtb said:
It's going automatic from October which will surely help.
Does anyone know if they are scrapping the barriers and booths completely for free-flowing carriageway? Or will it still be necessary to drive through the booths for the ANPR cameras to work? If so, there are bound to still be queues as everyone tussles to join the shortest lane.
.Does anyone know if they are scrapping the barriers and booths completely for free-flowing carriageway? Or will it still be necessary to drive through the booths for the ANPR cameras to work? If so, there are bound to still be queues as everyone tussles to join the shortest lane.
http://www.kentonline.co.uk/dartford/news/dartford...
The booths are definitely going. For this privilege you will have to pay. Charges will be going up from the end of October when the barriers are removed. There will also be major infrastructure work to eliminate all the extra lanes leading up to the existing toll barriers and realign the carriageways. Expect months of roadworks.
The contract for the new charging system has been given to les Frogs. This is almost certainly because they are a leading exponent of this technology - http://www.sanef-its.com/Systeme-Free-Flow-peage-s...
English version here - http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c...
Red Devil said:
Define regularly.
I didn't have reason to commute (or cross daily at any time) but I used it often enough to know what the queues were like and which times to avoid. You couldn't be more wrong about the pre-bridge days. I'm old enough to remember when there was no crossing there at all! I passed my driving test just shy of a year after the first (West) tunnel opened.
During the post banking crisis recession there was a fall back in the extent of the queues. It has got gradually worse since and there is now more congestion and for longer time periods. I think that contrast is what people are noticing now.
it.
This is a bit different to what you're talking about. It's never been as bad as it has been in the last few months. It also affects traffic by where I live on the A20 as it's now tailed back 3 miles into eltham every afternoon and evening where people divert, plus all the jams around Orpington and Sidcup.I didn't have reason to commute (or cross daily at any time) but I used it often enough to know what the queues were like and which times to avoid. You couldn't be more wrong about the pre-bridge days. I'm old enough to remember when there was no crossing there at all! I passed my driving test just shy of a year after the first (West) tunnel opened.
During the post banking crisis recession there was a fall back in the extent of the queues. It has got gradually worse since and there is now more congestion and for longer time periods. I think that contrast is what people are noticing now.
it.
A friend of mine commutes to Ipswich daily and she says it's now taking her up to two hours a night just to get over the bridge.
We are both of the opinion that they have deliberately slowed the barriers down so they can say how marvellous the change will be in October.
You can't compare now with the days before there was a crossing apart from the fact you'd sit in queues on the A2 and A13 for hours as neither of those roads were more than single carriageways plus there wasn't the volume of traffic then that there is now.
Red Devil said:
http://www.trafficengland.com/motorwayflow.aspx#sc... - a really handy resource.
The only drawback is it doesn't stream in real time though. You have to manually update it.
Having played around more with this site , I am even more flabbergasted that the Dartford Crossing dont monitor them as normal protocol to catch the tailbacks early doors.The only drawback is it doesn't stream in real time though. You have to manually update it.
Maybe because the toll operator (Connect Plus Services) is only interested in the revenue stream? Why should they care about queues? It's effectively a captive market for them. The traffic isn't going to go away. The Blackwall Tunnel is much too far east to be a viable alternative.
The East London River Crossing was proposed over 25 years ago and came to nothing. It was resurrected as the Thames Gateway Bridge and argued about endlessly until Boris killed it.
Now the same cycle of arguments/objections is being repeated in respect of the Third/Lower Thames Crossing. I'll probably be pushing up daisies before it gets built (if it ever does).
The barrier/charging suspension protocol guidance defines 'Severe Congestion' as
queuing traffic (stationary or slow moving traffic, travelling < approx. 10 mph) which extends continuously from the Dartford Crossing to M25 J28 centre (A12 junction) for southbound traffic or to M25 J4 centre (A224) for northbound traffic.
emphasis mine
That's more than 10 fricking miles of nose to tail traffic on each side. Utter madness.
The East London River Crossing was proposed over 25 years ago and came to nothing. It was resurrected as the Thames Gateway Bridge and argued about endlessly until Boris killed it.
Now the same cycle of arguments/objections is being repeated in respect of the Third/Lower Thames Crossing. I'll probably be pushing up daisies before it gets built (if it ever does).
The barrier/charging suspension protocol guidance defines 'Severe Congestion' as
queuing traffic (stationary or slow moving traffic, travelling < approx. 10 mph) which extends continuously from the Dartford Crossing to M25 J28 centre (A12 junction) for southbound traffic or to M25 J4 centre (A224) for northbound traffic.
emphasis mine
That's more than 10 fricking miles of nose to tail traffic on each side. Utter madness.
Riley Blue said:
Hell's bells... I have to get my 50 year old Riley through there next week en route from Derbyshire to Dover. It has a tendency to overheat in stop-start traffic so that's going to be a anxious few miles!
Go the other way and not in rush-hour/s.You will be sat in long jams over the crossing.
Riley Blue said:
Hell's bells... I have to get my 50 year old Riley through there next week en route from Derbyshire to Dover. It has a tendency to overheat in stop-start traffic so that's going to be a anxious few miles!
Go via the Blackwall tunnel before 2-3pm or use M25 anticlockwisejagracer said:
Riley Blue said:
Hell's bells... I have to get my 50 year old Riley through there next week en route from Derbyshire to Dover. It has a tendency to overheat in stop-start traffic so that's going to be a anxious few miles!
Go via the Blackwall tunnel before 2-3pm or use M25 anticlockwiseAnd what are you going to do if it isn't? You'll then have a time consuming 30 mile detour up the A13 to the Blackwall Tunnel and then the A2/A20 back down. You might as well go to Blackwall via M11/A12 in the first place. Or go anti-clockwise round the M25. It all depends on timing. Get that wrong and you'll have fun and games between the M40 and M3 junctions.
Riley Blue said:
I was wondering about getting to Thurrock Services by A roads so I can watch the traffic flow then making a quick dash when (if) it's clear.
You could come off at the A127, turn left and take the first slip and turn right, there's a road that runs parallel through S Ockendon to the M25 but to be honest it's no quicker than sitting in a slow moving snarl up on the M25. Red Devil said:
And what are you going to do if it isn't? You'll then have a time consuming 30 mile detour up the A13 to the Blackwall Tunnel and then the A2/A20 back down. You might as well go to Blackwall via M11/A12 in the first place. Or go anti-clockwise round the M25. It all depends on timing. Get that wrong and you'll have fun and games between the M40 and M3 junctions.
Looks like it's 'toss a coin' time....
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