Len Salisbury Posted May 23, 2017 Share Posted May 23, 2017 Although I have used the Dartford Crossing many times before the TAG system was installed I have taken the M25 anticlockwise route south. I have a TAG system that I use on French Peage and it works. What do I have to do to use the bridge/tunnel and payment methods? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickt Posted May 23, 2017 Share Posted May 23, 2017 You can open a Dart account or pay within 24 hours of crossing. The Dart account gives you discount on crossing £1.67 instead of £2.50 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Len Salisbury Posted May 23, 2017 Author Share Posted May 23, 2017 I have just Googled for info and looks like when you apply for vehicle Tax online on the official GOV site. Pay up front for 1 or more crossings if you are not local as you can get a discount if you are local to the area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PJay Posted May 23, 2017 Share Posted May 23, 2017 Len Salisbury - 2017-05-23 9:52 AM I have just Googled for info and looks like when you apply for vehicle Tax online on the official GOV site. Pay up front for 1 or more crossings if you are not local as you can get a discount if you are local to the area. Well Len, You are are from "abroad" , so definitely not local. Do they have a toll booth now? Have not been in the tunnel for donkeys years, as we always went the other way, when we lived north of the Thames. and we don't go to Dover/Folkestone, as Portsmouth is our port of exit PJay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJA Posted May 23, 2017 Share Posted May 23, 2017 Hi Len If you Go onto the Dart Charge website you will be able to find how to pay. You can phone them and prepay for your crossing but it will cost you £2.50 each crossing unless you cross after 10pm and before 6am when it will be free. You can also open an account with Dart Charge which then means that each crossings cost is reduced to £1.67. There is a minimum of £10 required to open the account and if you select the option to manually add money to the account you can choose when you want to add any. If you select the automatic addition of monies you will find that when you make your first crossing and so the account drops below £10 it will then add another £10. If you do not use the account for a year it should remind you and you can get a refund of any balance if you wish. You can set up the account online. There are no barriers now as you just drive straight through or over depending on which way you are going and your crossing is detected by reg no. You can check your account to see what monies you have on the account and you can see when you crossed. There are some who have moaned about Dart Charge having your money up front but I would suggest the 30% discount per crossing more than covers any benefit you could have gained by keeping the money and paying the full cost. If you have not paid up front or opened an account you have until midnight the following day to contact them and pay. This runs the risk of your forgetting or being on the way to Dover and being abroad when you remember to pay. My main complaint about Dart Charge is that the signage about there being a charge for a crossing is very poor. It is only in English, and does not give any phone numbers or website details. The sign involves a Red "C" which some confuses with the Congestion charge. I know you don't want to have people trying to note phone numbers etc whilst driving but it really depends on people having access to the internet to find out what to do. Laybys in the area with the info would help cover this point. We have friends who have no computers and in one case does not even have a phone, thats another story, so it would be very difficult for them. There are shops where you can pay but there is no information about this other than on the internet. We live close to the crossing and have Local Resident accounts for our cars but have a normal account for the motorhome as you can only have vehicle per person. Doug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyLou Posted May 23, 2017 Share Posted May 23, 2017 There are no toll booths on the crossing. You can pay online (https://www.gov.uk/pay-dartford-crossing-charge) before you go through or up to 24 hours after you pass through. If you are only a casual user the faff of creating an account and pre buying crossings does not seem worth the money saved. Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david lloyd Posted May 23, 2017 Share Posted May 23, 2017 Andy&Lou - 2017-05-23 11:19 AM There are no toll booths on the crossing. You can pay online (https://www.gov.uk/pay-dartford-crossing-charge) before you go through or up to 24 hours after you pass through. If you are only a casual user the faff of creating an account and pre buying crossings does not seem worth the money saved. Andy Andy, I think you can pay quite well in advance of a crossing. When we booked a eurotunnel return crossing in November 2015 we paid the £5 for the outward crossing on 16th December and return crossing on 14th March 2016 as both dates were booked for the tunnel. Worked fine. David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PJay Posted May 23, 2017 Share Posted May 23, 2017 How do foreign visitors get on then? Must be very confusing, unless of course they just go and never pay? By the way, are we talking tunnel or Bridge?? Getting confused (Anno Dominini ) Just as well we won't need to use it, as we live to the west of it. Having watched the "Cross Rail Link" on Tv , I would hate to drive in London any way. It's got much busier since I used to work there , in the 1950's PJay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david lloyd Posted May 24, 2017 Share Posted May 24, 2017 PJay - 2017-05-23 7:34 PM How do foreign visitors get on then? Must be very confusing, unless of course they just go and never pay? By the way, are we talking tunnel or Bridge?? Getting confused (Anno Dominini ) Just as well we won't need to use it, as we live to the west of it. Having watched the "Cross Rail Link" on Tv , I would hate to drive in London any way. It's got much busier since I used to work there , in the 1950's PJay Pjay It's got a lot busier than when I worked there in 1990's! The 'dartford crossing' is both tunnel and bridge - the bridge is used for all traffic heading south (clockwise) on the M25 and all four lanes of the tunnel used heading north or anti-clockwise. I think if they have to close one or the other they have a facility to revert to two way traffic on either. David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Jones Posted May 26, 2017 Share Posted May 26, 2017 You only need to pay up front when you first open the account, as long as you tick the "manual" box. You might get a message to say it's gone below £10, but yyou can ignore that. And you can top up by random amounts, ev just enough £1.67's for the near future, so no need to give HMG an interest free loan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John52 Posted May 26, 2017 Share Posted May 26, 2017 PJay - 2017-05-23 7:34 PM How do foreign visitors get on then? Must be very confusing, unless of course they just go and never pay? PJay Thats exactly what they do as was predicted, and what the Government said wouldn't happen because all the debts would be chased up *-) There are many £millions in unpaid tolls to foreign registered vehicles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PJay Posted May 26, 2017 Share Posted May 26, 2017 John52 - 2017-05-26 7:17 AM PJay - 2017-05-23 7:34 PM How do foreign visitors get on then? Must be very confusing, unless of course they just go and never pay? PJay Thats exactly what they do as was predicted, and what the Government said wouldn't happen because all the debts would be chased up *-) There are many £millions in unpaid tolls to foreign registered vehicles. Typical!! One rule for the law abiding, and one for the rest!! A bit like the "paying aires" in France, where some leave before the collector arives.!! PJay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John52 Posted May 26, 2017 Share Posted May 26, 2017 I only wish I had a foreign registered vehicle,so I could join them in raising 2 fingers as I drove over the Queen Elizabeth Bridge and through the Earl of Dartford's toll booths . Paying enough in road taxes as it is. Tell the truth - Who wouldn't drive straight through with a smile if they could get away with it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJA Posted May 26, 2017 Share Posted May 26, 2017 In excess of £50 million has been collected in fines in the last year I believe. Hears hoping the UK Gov are checking what fines have been paid to ensure the French Company involved are pursuing non UK drivers and what there success rate is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Jones Posted May 26, 2017 Share Posted May 26, 2017 Err, is this a good moment to admit that next time I use it, I'll be on French plates? I'll get my coat now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John52 Posted May 26, 2017 Share Posted May 26, 2017 DJA - 2017-05-26 10:41 AM pursuing non UK drivers and what there success rate is. I don't suppose it will be top of the agenda in the Brexit negotiations? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curtisden Posted May 28, 2017 Share Posted May 28, 2017 Warning! My son had a pickup that he sold to a chap some way away for cash, sent off the forms all signed. After a while he received over the space of a week 2 penalty tickets for £60 for instant payment which he ignored and contacted the tunnel re the sale. A month later a further letter now £250?+ and again he contacted the tunnel. This time they also wrote to the Highways section that issue the penalties. Again a month later a further letter now a threat for £800 for each ticket total £1600 and court order. This time they contacted the Court and again were told they would look into it. 2 months later bailiffs turn up with a order to remove property. At this point they tell me and I get involved. I contact the tunnel "Out of there hands" Meet the bailiffs and pay up half with a threat that they would be back for the balance in two weeks if not sorted. They confirm that while the title is in my sons name it is taxed in the name of the new owner!!!! I speak to the DVLA and they tell me that the pickup is still registered in my sons name. On pointing out that the forms were sent in they confirm that this is so but the new buyer had not completed some part and until he did they would do no more? Luckily my son had kept a copy of the form and on confirming I held it they said they would mark the records accordingly. They lied! 2 weeks on and the bailiffs are back and they will not contact either the Tunnel or the DVLA. They go away for a further week. I again contact the DVLA and still no change in the records and that again they would write to the now owner. They Lied! I get in my car and clutching a copy of the form and a letter that acts as a backdated receipt I drive down to Bexhill to the address. On knocking on the door of frankly a rather rough looking house a 6ft6ins huge man comes to the door. On telling him that the pickup is not registered in his name and that he needed to sign the recipe, but not telling him why he like a lamb signs. Phuu! This is sent to the DVLA and I followup repeatedly till at last they confirm that the pick up is now marked as unknown? but that the problem with the Tunnel is it works of a database that they may or may not download once every 3 months? I now write to the courts and again no reply but the bailiffs don't come back. After 4 months we get a letter stating that they were looking into the matter. Then a further 2 months and a letter arrives with a full refund of the payments. But no contribution for the huge stress and funding this caused. I wrote to the tunnel requesting both an apology and a payment of costs. No reply. Moral PAY straight away. Do not rely on the Tunnel getting it right or giving a damm in sorting out a clear anomaly in there record. If you have recently sold a vehicle again make sure you pay even if you did not cross and get straight on to the DVLA. KEEP RECORDS of everything. Oh yes never been involved with bailiffs before and don't want to. Reason is a waste of time as are records. They are only focused in the writ and will not use what is between their ears. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PJay Posted May 28, 2017 Share Posted May 28, 2017 One thing to bear in mind. DVLA should send a confirmation that a vehicle has been transfered. But always keep copies of everything any way. Abad experience for Curtisden , but hopefully a rare one. PJay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keithl Posted May 28, 2017 Share Posted May 28, 2017 Curtisden, Sorry to hear of your son's plight but my first suggestion would be, NEVER trust the post until you get a confirmation letter. But even better, register the sale on-line with DVLA, you then get an instant email notification of the sale. I sold a car yesterday and have done exactly this this morning (system is only live 7 am to 7 pm). The reply email states "Thank you for using DVLA’s online service to confirm you are no longer the registered keeper of this vehicle" and "You should receive a postal acknowledgement letter within 4 weeks." So this should be evidence if the unforseen happens and you receive a fine. https://www.gov.uk/sold-bought-vehicle Keith. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Len Salisbury Posted May 29, 2017 Author Share Posted May 29, 2017 A good link Keith. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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