Dartford Crossing

You are to cynical for your own good

Very true but only because this has been my life experience.:D

Well they have been extensively “maintaining” the old Bridge for what seems like years now so hopefully that money has been well spent.

Being the cynic I am I can see which way that is going!

I presume you fear they may deem the old bridge beyond economic repair,leaving the toll bridge as the only option? Or, that they will find the repair costs so expensive that they decide to apply a toll to the old Bridge too to avoid having to pass costs on to local taxpayers etc. I am sure they have no plans for either at this stage ;-).

You are to cynical for your own good Paul1867 – as am I, it must be something to do with the christian/forename ‘Paul’ :-).

South bound crossing yesterday appears road is now in final lay without the kink, (cant spell chicane) drove straight though about 7pm.
Booths now gone on north bound side and possibly roads in place as could see two streams of traffic running towards tunnels. No queues at. Came from M11 and there seemed to be much fewer lorries or was that just my imagination?

They are building a new TOLL bridge alongside The Bridge at Widnes. The Bridge is then going to be closed for repair. Being the cynic I am I can see which way that is going!

Interesting to see how it works.

Although a friend who crosses more often than us, has added our car to his account

Finally paid for my two December crossings on Dartsave and have discovered elsewhere how they work.

When you enrol with them your vehicle becomes part of their fleet.

You make a crossing, they get notified and pay the pre-registered fleet rate (less than £2.50.). They bill you and pocket the difference.

For the small difference you are guaranteed never to cop the sixty quid fine for forgetting to pay the next day.

A good service.

Moggy

From what I could see last evening the northbound crossing was being diverted around the barriers – presumably because traffic flow was lighter than when I crossed on Saturday morning?

Paul F

I think it is now that the southbound barriers are gone traffic northbound can now be diverted round the barriers in the space previously occupied by the southbound barriers. This will allow the northbound barriers to be removed and then the roads in both direct can be realigned on a straighter path. There will not be the need for as many lanes as there were booths as there is no point in having more lanes than the roads each side.

Faultless trip southbound at around 10.00am on Friday.

0230 on Sunday northbound was a different kettle of fish with the Motorway closed and all traffic being diverted around the local roads to finally rejoin just before the barriers (still functioning).

Here’s my current status, with the crossing from earlier in the month still unpaid and unpayable.

Moggy

Update on payment options (prepaid account)

Paul F That looks interesting please keep us informed how that goes.

Paul

1. Two crossings made over the weekend, northbound Saturday 11am, barriers still in use but traffic flowing reasonably well, Southbound 6pm last night, all running freely, and no barriers.

From what I could see last evening the northbound crossing was being diverted around the barriers – presumably because traffic flow was lighter than when I crossed on saturday morning?

2. Pre-pay Payment method – I deposited £10 into my new dart Charge account last week but did not select the “auto top up” option.

Having made two crossings this weekend, I have not yet had any email requesting a top up, and a check of my Dart Charge account this morning shows that my account balance is sitting well below £10.

Thus, there seems to be no need to set up the auto-debit facility, so long as you remember to check there are funds to cover any future crossings you wish/expect to make.

Time will tell as to whether the system is smart enough to request a top up once the account balance falls below the cost of a single crossing…

Paul F

Good to hear!;)

Perfect return trip today, south to north no hold ups anywhere M25, M1 and M6. 10:30 at the crossing no queues, for the crossing, in either direction. The toll gates have not been removed yet on the tunnel side so you still have to channel through and rather bizarrely the barriers are still in operation so you still have to hesitate between each vehicle for the barrier to go down and up again! They were still dismantling the booths on the bridge side so it will probably be a week or so before they have room to bypass the tunnel booths.

That’s an interesting way of looking at it; assuming that the government needs to raise a fixed amount by whatever method of taxation is used we wouldn’t necessarily pay more by ‘paying twice’!

Not naive at all Paul. Just the system you prefer whereas I prefer all my taxes to be clear and not hidden away in general taxation. Tax my income as little as possible and then I’ll chose whether or not to pay the direct taxes at the point of delivery.

You must hate buying petrol / diesel then!

The motorist has always been treated as a taxation cash-cow by the government; they (we) must be taking quite hit on VAT as the price of fuel at the pumps falls.

If this system proves ‘efficient’ perhaps it could be rolled-out over the whole road system? 😉

Now there’s a cheery thought first thing in the morning! I hate all forms of indirect taxation. Pay once on income and then you know exactly how much tax you are paying and you save all the overheads of operating all the different schemes. But then I am naive.

An email warning of low balance would of course resolve that problem. I suppose as a low frequency user one would be more likely to check the balance each time.

Paul

I would have thought that low frequency users would be more likely to use Dartsave who send reminders when it is necessary to pay.

At the moment though the system has broken down, I can’t pay for last week’s crossing and all sanctions have been suspended until it’s sorted.

Moggy

I have already read two articles discussing the reopening of the toll road proposals last debated a couple of years ago. So who knows……..?

If this system proves ‘efficient’ perhaps it could be rolled-out over the whole road system? 😉

Paul F That looks interesting please keep us informed how that goes. Do you get email reminders? My concern would be keeping track of the balance and topping up at the right time. The consequence of getting it wrong could be painful!! An email warning of low balance would of course resolve that problem. I suppose as a low frequency user one would be more likely to check the balance each time.

Paul

set up account £10. Drive through once balance drops below £10 so immediately topped up with £10. Thus my account stands at £18.33.

Paul – I presume you set your account up with the automatic top up feature? I have set an account up but opted out of the auto top up, so I assume I can run my account down below £10, so long as it stays in credit and covers any crossings I make… I’ll find out when I use crossing for first time this weekend. I decided not to set up the auto top up feature for exactly the reason you describe.

Paul F

How? Are there barriers? Or security staff to give pursuit?

Neither they just accept that they will loose £6m a year and just increase the “charge”, it is not a “toll” apparently, all the law abiding travellers to cover the loss!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-23334597

Interestingly the original PFI contract required what was originally a toll to cease when the debts had been paid off. However, as usual this was the thin end of the wedge and when the time came in 2002 the government changed it from a toll to a charge to keep the revenue stream.