Dartford Crossing sees 50 million vehicles a year (Image: Getty)
The takes drivers from Kent to with the River Thames in between.
The crossing, on the busy M25, was originally designed to carry 135,000 vehicles a day. Still, that daily average has gone up by 15,000, and on some of its busier days, it can see up to 180,000 vehicles carrying a massive 50 million vehicles per year, .
However, many drivers are outraged by the toll charges and fines they’ve been hit with.
An investigation found that £4 million was generated over and around 59,000 penalty charge notices were cancelled by following its switch to a new payments management provider.
Currently, it costs to use the M25 crossing between 6 am and 10 pm, and the charge must be paid by midnight the day after the crossing.
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The charge being around for years is where the outrage comes from, as it wasn’t supposed to be the case.
The original construction agreement of the bridge was that toll charges were meant to stop once the crossing had paid for itself, which was 15 years ago. In Feburuary 1999, the government announced that the crossing would be free of toll charges by the end of 2003.
Now, 21 years later, motorists are still paying the charges, which range between £2.50 for cars and £6 for lorries to get between Kent and Essex.
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The crossing was meant to be made toll-free in 2003 (Image: Getty)
In response to a Freedom of Information request about the continuation of the tolls in 2009, the Department for Transport said: “The original intention was to remove tolls when the cost of the Bridge had been recovered. However, traffic levels have risen far faster than projected and an earlier study has indicated that removal of toll charges would increase traffic levels by 17 percent on 2003 levels.”
In 2001, the government backtracked on the agreement, sparking outrage.
AA Motoring Trust’s Paul Watters said at the time: “It is no wonder motorists don’t trust the way they are taxed and treated by governments. The 150,000 drivers who use the Dartford crossing each day have a right to be outraged that they will still have to pay.”
In 2012, it was revealed to the Evening Standard by The AA Motoring Trust president, Edmund King, that at the time, the crossing was raising around £70 million a year.
To travel from Kent to Essex, motorists use two 0.8mile-long tunnels and to travel south from Thurrock, Essex to Kent, they use the four-lane QEII Bridge, that has a speed limit of 50mph.