General Chat

Just a reminder that the changes to the way you pay are only one week away - from Sunday 30 November 2014 you will no longer be able to pay at the toll booths.

We've already 'migrated' ;-)

For those who asked about paying at an outlet

http://www.payzone.co.uk/Store-Locator

Its a real surprise that the the outlets seem to be small 'corner shops'. The Service stations, Bluewater and Lakeside seemed have missed a trick!

According to Kentonline, the Crossing has been awful today and could well be. IMO, for the remaining weekends for the rest of the year. There may not be the business journeys on Sat and Sundays, but there sure are the domestic/shopping ones!
http://www.kentonline.co.uk/dartford/news/last-tolls-today-before-free-27792/

Last week I made a note of this from their website:-

"The southbound plaza will have four charging booths closed between 6am and 10pm for two days starting on Saturday 29 November. This is to remove those booths in readiness for the Dart Charge scheme."

So, to visit some rellies in darkest Kent today, I let the train take the strain.

And for next weekend and thereafter, I have set up my pre-pay account. £10 gets me 3ish return journeys - as each crossing is £1.67

PS: Two Saturdays ago the drive there took me 1hr58m (no queue at the tollbooth!!) but the return took 3h10m

An awful lot of people are going to end up paying a penalty (which I believe is £70).
People from "oop north" won't be aware of the system in advance, will be driving to get the ferry or shuttle to the Continent and won't have time to pay before getting on board.
The penalty demand will be waiting for them when they get back from holiday.

Although it's been compared to the London Congestion Charge, that's a different kettle of fish since the CC is for a relatively small area which no-one in their right mind drives into by choice and those that do are mainly locals or professional drivers who do so on a regular basis and are aware of how it works.

As for foreign vehicles, what are the chances of any recovery proceedings being taken if they don't or can't pay when in the UK?

From the 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.

OH will probably be using it this morning, his company will pay so not a problem there. His work is based near lakeside and they cover Norfolk to Sussex.....hopefully there wont be so many hold ups, but it wont stop the accidents on the M25

Inky- once the alterations are complete, would you mind letting us know if your crossing times have improved?

Another thing - has anyone been able to work out if more than one private vehicle can be registered on the same account? A family member used to occasionally borrow our Dart-tag to cross the waters.

DET

Yes - I will advise in due course. I have made the same journey many times over the past few years. My 'best ever' was 1h45m. And my worst ever was just over 3h30m.
For that latter journey I remember 'crawling' past the sign that stated "Dartford Crossing 7 miles". That was going south/clockwise over the bridge. Going north through the tunnels I join the M25 from the A2. And that can be almost as bad, with cars & lorries tailed back to that junction. But that is only 3 miles from the Crossing...

Yes - You can add other cars. Have just logged into my account, it reads " You can add up to twenty vehicles manually."

Thanks Inky. I'll get OH on to it

We only have a prepayment account as he used to use the crossing twice a week and it saved time. The savings were a bonus ;-)

Anti-clockwise queues can stretch back to or passed the previous junction ie Swanley. Which ever end you are travelling from, it can't be avoided. Dartford town frequently gets gridlocked as non crossing A2 users try to avoid the junction. The same probably occurs the Essex side. Accidents are still going to happen, with similar results.
We got stranded at Bluewater for several hours a few weeks ago. At least we were able to wait it out in comfort! :-D

In response to BrianW,

Three ways to pay:-

Online, Retail Outlets, Over the Phone.

For that last one: 0300 3000 120
I presume that phone number will be clearly displayed on the approaches to the crossing. But remembering it, or writing it down if you the sole occupant of the car, is another matter....

One does wonder how much money they will be spending in the long term chasing those who do not pay.

We know that the Mayors office spends 100s of thousands of pounds each year chasing up people who do not pay the Congestion Charge!!!

To me this just seems like a false economy. At least with the booths they were guaranteed payment! ;-)

For some years when living in West Sussex I visited my daughters every two weeks in Cambridge. The good thing about that was once entering the M25 at junction 7 I could go either way round it to get the and there was only 5 miles in it.....So going I would go via Heathrow and coming back via Dartford.... Glad I don't need to go through there now

DET

Report on first crossing under the new scheme.

- Only one way – anticlockwise this afternoon. As I needed to drop someone at Heathrow T5 early this morning I then continued on round – M25/26/20. Like Jax, the M25 south route is longer for me.

- Roadworks at the Crossing are still being carried out. A number of temporary lane markings exist, so I was glad that it was daytime. Still had to stop at a tollbooth barrier. Maybe they are being used temporarily just to slow traffic?

- Car computer shows journey took 2h15m, which I think is not bad for a Saturday afternoon. But maybe many drivers were somewhere else - watching Chelsea lose? Most of my journeys are between 2h10m and 2h30m (the exceptions have already been previously noted). So it would take quite some time and many journeys to confirm any overall improvement. But having today driven round about 80% of the M25, I think that all the road-widening work has been completed. Thus traffic was flowing smoothly.

- I have just checked my account. The £1.67 has been deducted. And shows time 15:22, direction NB. (i.e. north bound) and the registration number.

Thanks for taking the time to report :-)

Your time wasn't too bad all things considered. The chart showing the work-plan seems to have disappeared so its rather difficult to know what's supposed to happen when.