Dartford Crossing - no longer taking cash & 25% price hike

[anonymous-user]

Just found out that as from the 30th of November they will no longer take cash and will be increasing the price again from £2 to £2.50. One would have thought that new technology should have brought the price down, not put it up!

So more on-line poncing about and more opportunities for the authorities to fine you if you get it wrong.

I'm old enough to remember that they told us once the crossing has been paid for by money from the toll booths the charge would be removed

[stormy22]

GSE said:

Just found out that as from the 30th of November they will no longer take cash and will be increasing the price again from £2 to £2.50. One would have thought that new technology should have brought the price down, not put it up!

So more on-line poncing about and more opportunities for the authorities to fine you if you get it wrong.

I'm old enough to remember that they told us once the crossing has been paid for by money from the toll booths the charge would be removed

A toll booth not taking cash (£2.00 cash) is frankly ridiculous and I can see the queue's mounting up with drivers unaware and unable to pay online.

[bqf]

It's a bd liberty...tolls were only there to pay for the crossing, and now it's £2.50? Piss-take. bds.

[Beer Man]

GSE said:

Just fo
I'm old enough to remember that they told us once the crossing has been paid for by money from the toll booths the charge would be removed

You can blame the French for that. They own it.

[TonyHetherington]

stormy22 said:

A toll booth not taking cash (£2.00 cash) is frankly ridiculous and I can see the queue's mounting up with drivers unaware and unable to pay online.

Why would there be queues? The idea is that you drive straight through with no need to stop. There will still be barriers though, so they can close the tunnels for maintenance / accidents etc, they will just always be open.

[stormy22]

TonyHetherington said:

Why would there be queues? The idea is that you drive straight through with no need to stop. There will still be barriers though, so they can close the tunnels for maintenance / accidents etc, they will just always be open.

I'm unaware how it works. Is it the same as the congestion charge, you pay in advance and if you are caught, they fine you in the post?

If so, how would that work for tourists in hire cars?

[budgie smuggler]

Beer Man said:

You can blame the French for that. They own it.

But why was it sold to them? What idiot in the government allowed it and how is it that the promises can be broken with seemingly no comeback?

[krallicious]

I have been reading through the gov.uk site for information on how to pay. They state that there is an option to pay as you use it (ie. not setting up an account) but then there is no further information on how to do it on the internet.

Is it just a case of waiting to see if a website magically appears on the 30th November?

[lufbramatt]

stormy22 said:

I'm unaware how it works. Is it the same as the congestion charge, you pay in advance and if you are caught, they fine you in the post?

If so, how would that work for tourists in hire cars?

The hire car company check to see who had hired it that day, then forward the fine with an admin fee on top. Lots of bridges work the same way in the USA, that's what they do out there.

[Beer Man]

budgie smuggler said:

But why was it sold to them? What idiot in the government allowed it and how is it that the promises can be broken with seemingly no comeback?

The same idiot that sold all our gold reserves, the same idiot that plummeted this country into recession, the same idiot that encouraged people to borrow more than they could afford, the same idiot that lied to the Electorate about Iraq. Get the drift?

[anonymous-user]

I can just imagine all the IT managers responsible for the project rocking back and forth in their executive armchairs thinking of their bonuses. And all the camera operators zooming in on your number plate and hitting the 'issue penalty charge!' button...

I suppose removing the booths will increase throughput, but why put the charge UP by 25%??

I'm not a regular user of the crossing, but surely they could have left some option to pay using cash?

Stuff the French I shall take the scenic route on the Woolwich Ferry in future (is that still free?)

[confused_buyer]

Last time I looked it was going up to £2.50 for ad hoc use but down to £1.67 if you had pre registered an account.

Has this changed?

[CAPP0]

GSE said:

I'm old enough to remember that they told us once the crossing has been paid for by money from the toll booths the charge would be removed

They did stop the charge, for 0.01 seconds some years ago. They then immediately re-introduced it as a means of tackling congestion, not to raise revenue.

(I may have applied poetic licence to some or all of the above but essentially I believe that is the political line to toe).

[mygoldfishbowl]

budgie smuggler said:

Beer Man said:

You can blame the French for that. They own it.

But why was it sold to them? What idiot in the government allowed it and how is it that the promises can be broken with seemingly no comeback?

Good grief.

The French don't own it & never have.

Where do people get this st from.

[Output Flange]

stormy22 said:

I'm unaware how it works. Is it the same as the congestion charge, you pay in advance and if you are caught, they fine you in the post?

No, it's the same as the congestion charge in that you can pay in advance or in arrears, but if you don't pay within the set limit then you get a fine.

It's all on the website.

[Maldini35]

Ridiculous.
Almost worth driving the entire M25 loop in the opposite direction to avoid this nonsense.

[bqf]

The Dartford Crossing is a wholly-owned piece of UK infrastructure, managed by Connect Plus (M25) limited, part owned by egis, a french company. So, not sold to the French.

[mygoldfishbowl]

Paying the tolls electronically is a step that's been taken to help ease the daily congestion that effects thousands of people, whether it will work or not remains to be seen. I don't agree with the tolls or the increase in price but if paying electronically will ease the congestion I'm all for it.

[CanAm]

GSE said:

Just found out that as from the 30th of November they will no longer take cash and will be increasing the price again from £2 to £2.50. One would have thought that new technology should have brought the price down, not put it up!

So more on-line poncing about and more opportunities for the authorities to fine you if you get it wrong.

I'm old enough to remember that they told us once the crossing has been paid for by money from the toll booths the charge would be removed

I believe they said the same thing about the Mersey Tunnel in 1934. Still charging though.

[trickywoo]

I sat behind some cretin for 10 minutes who opted to go to a no change given booth without any means of payment so this is a bonus for me.

If you are too stupid to pay you deserve a fine and the fact they can't hold me up again is only good.

The toll itself however, is a rip off.