Dart Charge: Issues continue for Dartford Crossing users
- Published
Drivers pay a toll charge to use the Dartford Crossing between Kent and Essex
Motorists crossing the Thames between Kent and Essex are facing continued payment issues following the introduction of a new system.
Users of the Dartford Crossing are facing possible fines, but are still experiencing problems paying online to use the route.
National Highways said once the system is functioning, they will provide users with a date to pay for their crossing.
They added the deadline is currently "open ended".
A spokesperson said: "The Dart Charge contact centre and website is still experiencing exceptionally high demand after the system updates made over the weekend.
A post on Dart Charge's Twitter page on Monday said its website was "currently at capacity" and therefore people were struggling to access it, as well as call centre advisors.
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One user told the BBC her husband sat in an online queue from 07:00 BST to 17:00 BST on Monday but was not able to make the payment. She said this situation happened again on Tuesday morning.
"It's not sustainable for us to spend days trying to process a payment, when their own system is at fault," she added.
Dartford MP Gareth Johnson said the issue "cannot go on"
Dartford MP Gareth Johnson called the issue "bitterly disappointing".
"I met with National Highways a couple of weeks ago to go through their resilience for this change over period, and they gave me assurances that their IT systems could cope and clearly that's not the case," he said.
"This cannot go on. Bearing in mind National Highways had two years to prepare for this, it's really a poor show on behalf of them."
On Tuesday, a spokesperson for National Highways said: "As things currently stand the deadline for paying for crossings is open ended.
"We feel that it would be unfair on road users to set a hard deadline at this stage due to the ongoing technical system issues."
They added they will communicate a final date and give road users sufficient time to pay for their crossing once the system is functioning as normal again.
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- Published31 July 2023
