Bulletguy Posted November 8, 2014 Share Posted November 8, 2014 As from 6am Sunday 30th November 2014 all the Toll Booths will be permanently closed (nothing like shoving a few more min wage workers on the dole eh?) as users will be charged via pre-payment.....phone or internet. The charge has also increased by 50p to £2.50 (car). Failure to pay online or by phone by midnight of the following day will result in a penalty charge of £35 if paid within 14 days, £70 up to 28 days and £105 thereafter. ANPR has already been installed to spy on every vehicle and catch the unaware. So i can see this being a nice little earner as Government coin in yet more money from the motorist to swell the coffers. That the bridge was paid for over 11 years ago doesn't seem to concern them. Apparently the toll continued because the Government said a continued charge was necessary to ‘restrict demand’ for it. Hhhmmmm. *-) https://www.gov.uk/government/news/dart-charge-dartford-crossing-remote-payment Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gocro Posted November 9, 2014 Share Posted November 9, 2014 Have they mentioned how they will collect the toll off of the thousands of foreign registered vehicles that use the crossing every day, are we to subsides these too? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southender Posted November 9, 2014 Share Posted November 9, 2014 I don`t see what the problem is ? There has been enough info on this happening for a long time now and if it speeds up transit over the bridge then it has to be good. Anyone that gets caught out and there will be plenty it`s their own fault. Expect the usual moaning minnies on here will have something to say about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve928 Posted November 9, 2014 Share Posted November 9, 2014 gocro - 2014-11-09 9:46 AM Have they mentioned how they will collect the toll off of the thousands of foreign registered vehicles that use the crossing every day, are we to subsides these too? Yes they have and no we aren't (in theory.. ) "The automatic number plate recognition system will recognise non-UK vehicles and a European debt recovery agency will support the recovery of outstanding charges." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Peter James Posted November 9, 2014 Share Posted November 9, 2014 Southender - 2014-11-09 9:50 AM I don`t see what the problem is ? There has been enough info on this happening for a long time now and if it speeds up transit over the bridge then it has to be good. Anyone that gets caught out and there will be plenty it`s their own fault. Expect the usual moaning minnies on here will have something to say about it. What are we paying road tax for? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elamessa Posted November 9, 2014 Share Posted November 9, 2014 Steve928 - 2014-11-09 10:58 AM gocro - 2014-11-09 9:46 AM Have they mentioned how they will collect the toll off of the thousands of foreign registered vehicles that use the crossing every day, are we to subsides these too? Yes they have and no we aren't (in theory.. ) "The automatic number plate recognition system will recognise non-UK vehicles and a European debt recovery agency will support the recovery of outstanding charges." Shame they haven't got the same ANPR system here in France to catch all those class 3 vehicles claiming class 2 on peages. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Peter James Posted November 9, 2014 Share Posted November 9, 2014 Steve928 - 2014-11-09 9:58 AM gocro - 2014-11-09 9:46 AM Have they mentioned how they will collect the toll off of the thousands of foreign registered vehicles that use the crossing every day, are we to subsides these too? Yes they have and no we aren't (in theory.. ) "The automatic number plate recognition system will recognise non-UK vehicles and a European debt recovery agency will support the recovery of outstanding charges." They have admitted that 'no automated toll system is 100%..... etc' Thats as close as we will get to an admission that foreign registered vehicles (and those on false plates) will get away with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Peter James Posted November 9, 2014 Share Posted November 9, 2014 Southender - 2014-11-09 9:50 AM if it speeds up transit over the bridge then it has to be good. . I recall the motorway toll booth at Paris being opened to let traffic through free of charge to clear the queue. Having just come up from Lyon with an HGV I think I saved about £50. But then I have queued about an hour to pay a £2 toll at Dartford. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sshortcircuit Posted November 9, 2014 Share Posted November 9, 2014 Did your one hour queue start at Dover? ?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rayjsj Posted November 9, 2014 Share Posted November 9, 2014 Peter James - 2014-11-09 10:06 AM Southender - 2014-11-09 9:50 AM I don`t see what the problem is ? There has been enough info on this happening for a long time now and if it speeds up transit over the bridge then it has to be good. Anyone that gets caught out and there will be plenty it`s their own fault. Expect the usual moaning minnies on here will have something to say about it. What are we paying road tax for? Time to make system of 'James bond' style Rotating number plates purely for unmanned toll booths. Would I get a copyright for them ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Leake Posted November 9, 2014 Share Posted November 9, 2014 Rayjsj - 2014-11-09 1:37 PM Peter James - 2014-11-09 10:06 AM Southender - 2014-11-09 9:50 AM I don`t see what the problem is ? There has been enough info on this happening for a long time now and if it speeds up transit over the bridge then it has to be good. Anyone that gets caught out and there will be plenty it`s their own fault. Expect the usual moaning minnies on here will have something to say about it. What are we paying road tax for? Time to make system of 'James bond' style Rotating number plates purely for unmanned toll booths. Would I get a copyright for them ? Come on get with it rotating number plates went out with in the sixties. What you need is one of my modern systems. These have number plate size led screens in place of the number plates. When the system detects a number plate recognition camera it automatically generates a random number that is taken from a list of numbers in use by identical vehicles to the one you are using. Simple and very effective. Contact me for details and prices using a suitably encoded email for security purposes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Peter James Posted November 9, 2014 Share Posted November 9, 2014 Colin Leake - 2014-11-09 4:06 PM Rayjsj - 2014-11-09 1:37 PM Peter James - 2014-11-09 10:06 AM Southender - 2014-11-09 9:50 AM I don`t see what the problem is ? There has been enough info on this happening for a long time now and if it speeds up transit over the bridge then it has to be good. Anyone that gets caught out and there will be plenty it`s their own fault. Expect the usual moaning minnies on here will have something to say about it. What are we paying road tax for? Time to make system of 'James bond' style Rotating number plates purely for unmanned toll booths. Would I get a copyright for them ? Come on get with it rotating number plates went out with in the sixties. What you need is one of my modern systems. These have number plate size led screens in place of the number plates. When the system detects a number plate recognition camera it automatically generates a random number that is taken from a list of numbers in use by identical vehicles to the one you are using. Simple and very effective. Contact me for details and prices using a suitably encoded email for security purposes. Better still buy a can of my special polish that reflects the camera flash so they can't read your number plate. Its even got an ordinary label on it so they can't see its special polish Only £29.99 a can ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bulletguy Posted November 10, 2014 Author Share Posted November 10, 2014 sshortcircuit - 2014-11-09 12:11 PM Did your one hour queue start at Dover? ?? :D :D :D :D Must admit whenever i've used Dartford i've never queued! However i long stopped using it since i now use the M40-M25 to Dover. Much better than the crazy M1 and no i won't use the M6 toll section either. With Fuel Duty at 63% plus VAT plus Road Tax, i think the motorist already gives Government more than enough money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sshortcircuit Posted November 10, 2014 Share Posted November 10, 2014 I have never queued on the Dartford crossing but as a very infrequent user that is an unfair statement. I have crossed for free when the local yobs set fire to a power switching station. When I frequently crossed the Forth bridge there was the odd delay and that can happen when there was an accident so somewhat expected. Interesting differences between the north and south. Our SNP government abolished tolls on all three payable crossings whereas the southerners want to continue to milk the motorists, so that's progress. :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimonH Posted November 10, 2014 Share Posted November 10, 2014 As a regular Dartford crosser I have been over it at 5pm on a Friday afternoon with no queue whatsoever and I've been through at 4am on a Wednesday and queued for 2 hours to get across. I've come to learn a number of rat-run diversions to get past the worst of the hold-ups but you can never rely on it being free-flowing. The most frustrating holdups are usually people who drop their coins on the floor instead of into the bins, people not having any money to pay and who have to fill in a form instead and vans trying to sneak through the car lanes (they'll stop you!). Visiting Portugal just after they introduced the road tolls there were plenty of warnings about buying the required 'tag' and loading it before driving on the toll roads but a local resident told me not to bother as they were only set up to charge Portuguese cars, even Spanish ones didn't get charged. I think this has since been rectified but I'm assured that they don't have the resources to pursue foreign drivers if you just cock-a-deff-un to their demands. I'm sure this will be the case for EU drivers using the Dartford Crossing - how much time are they going to waste chasing £2.50 abroad? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derek500 Posted November 10, 2014 Share Posted November 10, 2014 Three Saturdays ago at 11am we were in a queue for about half an hour, going northbound. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Had Enough Posted November 10, 2014 Share Posted November 10, 2014 SimonH - 2014-11-10 10:58 AM I'm sure this will be the case for EU drivers using the Dartford Crossing - how much time are they going to waste chasing £2.50 abroad? But they won't be chasing small sums. They'll be chasing £105 because that will be the final bill if the drivers ignore the toll. The operators will be using a European debt recovery agency, which will have the power to confiscate vehicles owned by persistent offenders. Having said that though, in the case of a confused holidaymaker who misses the payment once, I suspect that they won't chase it, but who really cares? The ones that they'll be going for will be the foreign lorry drivers who cheat regularly. This system will eliminate most queues and save money. Regular users can even set up a pre-pay account and the toll will be £1.67, which is less than the current £2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maggyd Posted November 10, 2014 Share Posted November 10, 2014 I was just looking at the charges, the cheapest prepay is £10 I think !! so the phone will be my way of paying so the first one to do PLEASE post and tell us how it is done, does it come off your phone or do you have to give card details over your mobile? which I'm not crazy about doing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Peter James Posted November 10, 2014 Share Posted November 10, 2014 SimonH - 2014-11-10 10:58 AM vans trying to sneak through the car lanes (they'll stop you!). You are right, but I wasn't 'trying to sneak through' - every other crossing I had ever used - Tamar Bridge, Forth Bridge, Tyne Tunnel, Humber Bridge, Dunham Bridge, Mersey Tunnel, etc charges light vans the same as cars, so it was a genuine mistake. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Peter James Posted November 10, 2014 Share Posted November 10, 2014 Had Enough - 2014-11-10 12:47 PM The operators will be using a European debt recovery agency, which will have the power to confiscate vehicles owned by persistent offenders. Just Bluster I believe, because I know councils have written off many £millions in fines issued to foreign registered vehicles Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Had Enough Posted November 10, 2014 Share Posted November 10, 2014 From the government website: Evasion Enforcing the charge will be an important part of the Dart Charge scheme. Penalty charges and recovery processes will be used to tackle evasion. Evasion is likely to involve both UK-registered and non-UK-registered vehicles. The automatic number plate recognition system will recognise non-UK vehicles and a European debt recovery agency will support the recovery of outstanding charges. This approach has proven successful with similar schemes such as the London congestion charge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracker Posted November 10, 2014 Share Posted November 10, 2014 maggyd - 2014-11-10 3:28 PM I was just looking at the charges, the cheapest prepay is £10 I think !! so the phone will be my way of paying so the first one to do PLEASE post and tell us how it is done, does it come off your phone or do you have to give card details over your mobile? which I'm not crazy about doing. Nor would I be enthusiastic about entrusting my bank or card details online to their 'secure' computer. And anyone - and they do exist especially in the backward/backwood areas like the North and Wales - who does not have a phone or a computer is really up the well known creek sans paddle! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracker Posted November 10, 2014 Share Posted November 10, 2014 Evasion - a possible reality? We will take all means that we can to hound UK residents for the fines and payments because they are an easy touch and because we can. We might take some half hearted measures to chase Johnny Foreigner because we can't be bothered. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Had Enough Posted November 10, 2014 Share Posted November 10, 2014 Tracker - 2014-11-10 4:14 PM Evasion - a possible reality? We will take all means that we can to hound UK residents for the fines and payments because they are an easy touch and because we can. We might take some half hearted measures to chase Johnny Foreigner because we can't be bothered. I genuinely don't understand that. All they'll have to do is send one message to the European debt collection agency that's being used and leave the rest to them. The agency will be on a commission based on results. So why wouldn't they? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Peter James Posted November 10, 2014 Share Posted November 10, 2014 Had Enough - 2014-11-10 4:09 PM This approach has proven successful with similar schemes such as the London congestion charge. Is this a joke? They have written of many £millions of congestion charge tickets issued to foreign registered vehicles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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