Dartford Crossing charge to increase for motorists

The standard charge for car drivers using the Dartford Crossing will rise from £2.50 to £3.50 in September.

The crossing links the M25 in Essex and Kent.

Transport Minister Lilian Greenwood, in a statement to Parliament, said the road was used by as many as 180,000 vehicles each day and the current charge was "no longer sufficient" to manage demand.

Jen Craft, the MP for nearby Thurrock, said she was "disappointed" and would write to her Labour colleague Greenwood to ask her to "reconsider".

Conservative Richard Holden described the government announcement as "underhanded" and fellow Essex MP James McMurdock, of Reform UK, said it was typical of "rip-off Britain".

Greenwood said there would be "significant" discounts for people living locally and that car drivers with pre-pay accounts would pay £2.80 for each crossing.

People driving buses, coaches, vans and other goods vehicles with two axles would pay up to £4.20 under the changes.

Vehicles with more than two axles will be charged up to £8.40.

The fees were last increased in 2014.

Greenwood said the new charges were "significantly lower" than if they had increased in line with inflation since 2014.

"I am aware that these necessary changes to the charges will be unwelcome news for users of the crossing," she said.

"These traffic levels are well in excess of the crossing's design capacity, causing delays for drivers."

Under the original construction scheme for the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge (which opened in 1991), tolls were meant to stop when the private finance initiative contract with Dartford River Crossing Limited ended in 2003.

However, the Transport Act 2000 had introduced charging schemes for all trunk roads, bridges and tunnels that spanned more than 600m (1,969ft), which allowed the Highways Agency to continue to charge a crossing fee.

Labour MP Craft said she regularly used the crossing herself.

"I will be writing to the roads minister to ask if there's any scope to reconsider it, also asking if there's any scope for retaining some of the money that's raised to fund local public transport," she said.

However, she said she could see the "logic" behind increasing the fees.

Holden, the Tory MP for Basildon and Billericay, branded the increase as "just another tax on motorists" for drivers who had "no other option" but to use the crossing.

"I do not understand how that is possibly justifiable at the moment, and if the minster wants to try and justify that they should have the backbone to do it on the floor of the House of Commons where they can be questioned on it," he said.

McMurdock, the MP for South Basildon and East Thurrock, said: "The toll was supposed to be removed once the costs of building the bridge had been repaid. What a joke.

"How will making it more expensive to cross the Thames deliver the growth [that government] promised, and our nation desperately needs?"

Jim Dickson, the Labour MP for Dartford, said the price rise was "unwelcome" but said he was glad ministers had "listened to me" by ensuring Dartford residents would still receive a "significant discount" for their annual passes.

"It's important that we don't see big price rises in the near future, and I'll keep fighting to make sure local people are treated fairly," he continued.

This week, it was announced that the Treasury would give £590m to the Lower Thames Crossing - a new tunnel under the estuary - which would link Tilbury in Essex and Gravesend in Kent.

National Highways hopes the new road will reduce traffic at the Dartford Crossing by 20%.

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