General Chat

thank you for this
we do use the dartford crossing but not that offend
so good to no there will be a diffrent paying metherd

There are going to be a whole host of retail outlets where you can pay the charge. Unfortunately the site that tells you where your neaarest one is doesn't seem to be able to find one.

Incidentally I had a leaflet about it with the receipt from the DVLA when I renewed my car tax last month.

Well, if I had not read this thread I would not have known about this.

I live in Sth London and it has not been mentioned in any papers that I read. Not has it been on the news.

So I would have turned up in the next couple of weeks and had no idea that I could no longer pay at the barriers. And I do not own a mobile phone. So what would have happened then??????

This is an absolutely stupid idea. On a par with no longer being able to pay by cash on Public Transport in London. And only being able to park in some London Boroughs by paying first by Mobile Phone.

Shirley - there will be outlets where you can pay. Aside from Lakeside, Bluewater and shops in Dartford and Thurrock, it had been moted that payment could be made at motorway service stations.

If, like us, you have a Darttag, look out for an email. Some people have said it has ended up in their Spam box. The email contains a couple of codes. You need to access your account, enter them and designate a licence plate number.
Although we'd need to double check, I believe more than one vehicle can use the registered account. (our tag was sometimes borrowed by family)

Account holders still get a discount, even though it's going up by 50p!

You would be OK Shirley. You have till midnight the next day to pay

Like the London Congestion Charge there will be a lot of people who will find themselves with a penalty - motorists are always a golden goose for providing a source of revenue :-|

what if you want to do a one off crossing and back that comes up as an emergency ??

we live in Kent so its possible we may need to such a journey without any 24 hour pre warning, are they saying we cant ???

I think that those who are not familiar with the new scheme will slow down or pull over, to read the various new signs explaining what they need to do - I am presuming there will be new signs explaining what they need to do, and that could cause delays, especially at busy times.

Why should the scheme cause delays? There won't be any need to stop at the crossing. Any delays will be because of the number of vehicles using it, or accidents, or the bridge being closed.

It sounds just like the London congestion charge as far as collecting payment goes.

When the construction of the Queen Elizabeth bridge was completed and the bridge opened in 1991, the then Tory Government promised, that when construction costs had been paid in full and a maintenance fund had been put in place, the tolls would be abolished.

Both these targets were in place by April 2003, however in 2003 the Labour was in power and they decided that a toll should still be levied.

Now that the Tory's are back in power, why don't they honour the promise they made in 1991 and abolish the tolls.

Looks like you can make your one off payment by Internet or phone, either in advance or up to midnight on the day following travel.

So now you have to remember to make the payment and spend time on the Internet or pay for a phone call as well. The authorities will probably save on staff costs and machine maintenance but I bet prices will go up rather than down.
:-(

And the all the visitors who pop over from Europe - at present during busy times when there are problems at the tolls, chaos reigns. As someone who used to use the crossing most weekends, I can see this scheme at busy times - causing delays instead of reducing them.

OK but what if you are a once in a lifetime user?
cant see any reference to that.......maybe they expect these drivers to be clairvoyant?

Dart Charge launches 30 November 2014 - From Sunday 30 November 2014 you will no longer pay for the Dartford Crossing at the barriers. This will help reduce congestion at the crossing. It will still be free to use the crossing between 10pm and 6am.

You should continue to pay at the barrier or use your DART-Tag until 30 November 2014.

The last cash payment will be taken at the crossing at around 10pm on Saturday 29 November. Dart Charge will begin at 6am on 30 November.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/dart-charge-dartford-crossing-remote-payment