Dartford Crossing

londonTiger

Iceweasel wrote: »

Did you pay for the return journey?

Next time try going North to Scotland where we don't have toll bridges and tunnels any more.

What exactly is the Dartford Crossing toll charge for, as the bridge paid for itself in 2002/3?

they need to get real, because of the dart charge there is congestion on the small bridges up the thames such as the bridge in beckton and blackwall tunnel. They need to stop the charging or use the money to build another (much needed) bridge in Erith or further up.

Erith looks like Eastern Europe, it's so badly developed.

Dhrucku

Was going to open a seperate thread up so glad to see a thread already opened. My sister was driving down for my birthday back in early July and didn't realise the toll. To her surprise (and mine) she's received a notice close to four months later!! 4 July was the date of contravention with the notice sent out on 27/10. Surely there is a time limit on this similar to speeding offences of 14 days of the offence. Seems very suspect...

andygb

londonTiger wrote: »

they need to get real, because of the dart charge there is congestion on the small bridges up the thames such as the bridge in beckton and blackwall tunnel. They need to stop the charging or use the money to build another (much needed) bridge in Erith or further up.

Erith looks like Eastern Europe, it's so badly developed.

That whole area looks like the ar*****e of Southern England.
We haven't used the Dartford crossing in years, I just cannot put up with the hassle.
When you go to France the toll system is so easy.
Why do we always get things so hopelessly wrong?:(

Dhrucku

Do we have any grounds to dispute?

Dhrucku wrote: »

Was going to open a seperate thread up so glad to see a thread already opened. My sister was driving down for my birthday back in early July and didn't realise the toll. To her surprise (and mine) she's received a notice close to four months later!! 4 July was the date of contravention with the notice sent out on 27/10. Surely there is a time limit on this similar to speeding offences of 14 days of the offence. Seems very suspect...

jimjames

Dhrucku wrote: »

Do we have any grounds to dispute?

I'd say yes. Particularly as the signs make no mention of tolls or costs. Even on the motorways nearby the C symbol is shown with no other info to suggest payment is needed.

FormulaDriven

I thought this might be of interest (problem using Dartford in a hire car and getting penalised for another driver) - particularly where it highlights that Dart Charge don't seem to respond to questions / complaints.


http://www.theguardian.com/money/2015/nov/10/charged-150-toll-dartford-bridge

Eddie_Cameron

Hi I drove through the Dartford Toll on boxing day 2014 on our way through France to Andorra and when we got back we had a penalty charge as neither me nor my wife noticed the fact you had to pay online we just assumed at the time you did not have to pay on non peak days/times as I have used the toll previous and used to pay at the toll.


So we received a letter saying we have been fined we contacted them straight away (around 2 weeks after we drove through due to us being on holiday till then) and we believed that the issue was settled and all sorted until today 28/11/2015 11 months and 1 day after the incident around 10 and a half months after we believed we settled this, they are now saying I need to pay a fine of £108 I have phoned the number, on the phone trying to resolve the situation he says there is nothing on my file through the ref number I gave and it is not resolved, I queried why it took so long to notify us of this and that we believe we sorted this in January and that it must be a mistake on their behalf also because of the time elapsed I do not wish to pay the guy then he hung up the phone on me.


If anyone has any information that may helpful the key things I believe may help is


we believe this was definitely resolved at the time we will go on to check our bank accounts for money going out but with this being nearly 12 months ago and not knowing the specific dates this might prove more difficult, is there anything else we could do?


also how long can they go without any contact with us then come and say you owe us money I thought there was like a 6 month time scale as a maximum for them to of solved/attempted to solve this not come to us over 10 months with no contact at all saying now you must pay.

jrtfan

Eddie_Cameron wrote: »

Hi I drove through the Dartford Toll on boxing day 2014 on our way through France to Andorra and when we got back we had a penalty charge as neither me nor my wife noticed the fact you had to pay online we just assumed at the time you did not have to pay on non peak days/times as I have used the toll previous and used to pay at the toll.


So we received a letter saying we have been fined we contacted them straight away (around 2 weeks after we drove through due to us being on holiday till then) and we believed that the issue was settled and all sorted until today 28/11/2015 11 months and 1 day after the incident around 10 and a half months after we believed we settled this, they are now saying I need to pay a fine of £108 I have phoned the number, on the phone trying to resolve the situation he says there is nothing on my file through the ref number I gave and it is not resolved, I queried why it took so long to notify us of this and that we believe we sorted this in January and that it must be a mistake on their behalf also because of the time elapsed I do not wish to pay the guy then he hung up the phone on me.


If anyone has any information that may helpful the key things I believe may help is


we believe this was definitely resolved at the time we will go on to check our bank accounts for money going out but with this being nearly 12 months ago and not knowing the specific dates this might prove more difficult, is there anything else we could do?


also how long can they go without any contact with us then come and say you owe us money I thought there was like a 6 month time scale as a maximum for them to of solved/attempted to solve this not come to us over 10 months with no contact at all saying now you must pay.

I haven't heard of anyone hanging up the phone before and would think they'd be sacked if word of this ever got back to their employer. So, I would smell a rat at this point in time and not part with a penny until verifying with the bank that the money was paid out last year.

Does the phone number you called recently tally with that given on the official website, as a matter of interest?

It's not unusual for their communications to be very slow in arriving, but nearly a year does sound a bit excessive.

Ebany

Just as a warning to anyone who elected to open an account to cover the Dart Charge, I did this last December and then as it happens we didn't use the crossing again until this December. Apparently, they sent me an email on the 1st saying my account was suspended for inactivity (oddly, this was only received yesterday) meaning that when I took my trip on the 12th December, my account wasn't active and so they didn't take payment.

This is, supposedly, my fault, for not checking my account was active (though it makes no mention of being suspended online, so I'm not sure how I was meant to do this) and so I should expect a penalty notice, though reading his thread who knows if/when it may turn up. The girl on the phone kept referring to the T&C's, so I went and took a look, and in fact they state they will notify you after 12 months and may terminate your account if you don't start using it within 30 days, which I did, so if they do try to fine me I certainly intend to argue.

Just letting you know as a warning for other occasional users with accounts - you might want to...call and check? I don't know how else you might make sure they haven't randomly decided to close the account you have with them, with no notice.

londonTiger

is there still just a warning for first offince. i have just paid for the journey on 18th. 2 hrs too late, i paid 2am on 20th.

it completely slipped my mind.