Dartford Crossing charge to increase in September by 40 PER CENT

Drivers face an increase in pricing to use the Dartford Crossing from September in what motoring groups have dubbed a blatant ‘revenue raiser’ at the expense of easy target motorists.

With the charge first introduced in 2003, it was last upped a decade ago in 2014.

However, from 1 September 2025, the squeeze on the nation’s drivers will continue as the cost will be go up once again – and by 40 per cent.

Lilian Greenwood, Parliamentary under-Secretary at the Department for Transport, confirmed this week that the existing one-off payment for cars, motorhomes and small minibuses of £2.50 will be increased to £3.50 from September to ‘manage traffic’.

All other road users will also see a 40 per cent hike, with coaches and vans levied £4.20 from September – up from £3 currently – and lorries facing an increase from £6 to £8.40. Motorcycles, moped and quad bikes will still be able to use the route free of charge.

The crossing, which is made up of the Queen Elizabeth II bridge travelling southbound and the two Dartford Tunnels when heading north, connects Thurrock in Essex with Dartford in Kent and is used by more than 150,000 vehicles per day on average.

The RAC Foundation said the suggestion that a 40 per cent increase is solely to manage traffic levels will ‘raise more than a few eyebrows’, while AA President Edmund King said the charge should have paid off construction costs for the bridge in 2003 but has been retained as a ‘nice little earner which raised tens of millions of pounds every year’.

In 2014, tollbooths were removed from the crossing and the online Dart Charge introduced to ‘make journeys smoother’. 

A price hike was also implemented to ‘help manage increased demand’, though ministers claim that in the 11 years since, usage has grown by 7.5 per cent.

With up to 180,000 vehicles using the crossing on the busiest days, Ms Greenwood attempted to defend the increase, saying traffic levels during peak times are ‘well in excess of the crossing’s design capacity’.

She added that has been ‘causing delays for drivers using the crossing, congestion and journey disruption to drivers on the M25 and a range of knock-on impacts for local communities’.

Local residents who currently pay £20 a year to use the Dartford Crossing as many times as they want will have to pay £25 from when the charge increases on 1 September.

Journeys made between the hours of 10pm and 6am will continue to be free.

The crossing opened in three stages.

The first west tunnel was completed in 1963 and – to cope with increasing traffic volumes – the second east tunnel arrived in 1980.

The two tunnels are 1,430 metres long.

The Queen Elizabeth Bridge was opened to traffic on 30 October 1991 to the tune of £120million. This included £30million for the approach roads. 

In 1999, the Government announced that tolling would end in 2003 – but it backtracked on this two years later, stating making it free would create more traffic. 

Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, said Greenwood’s claim that a 40 per cent increase in the charge is to manage traffic will ‘raise more than a few eyebrows given that those making the crossing have little alternative but to do so’. 

He added: ‘Most people will, understandably, and probably rightly, see this move as nothing else but a revenue raiser.’

The AA’s Edmund King commented: ‘Long-distance travellers from the UK and Europe, freight, business and regional users have all been sold down the river by successive governments through the unnecessary perpetuation of tolls and lack of future capacity at Dartford.

‘Tolling was supposed to pay for the Dartford Bridge and then end, which would have been in 2003.

‘However, it became a nice little earner which raised tens of millions of pounds every year.

‘Ramping up the tolls by an extra pound, when the majority of users have no alternative about the time and place they cross the Thames, is simply road charging and a bridge too far.’

James Barwise, policy lead at the Road Haulage Association (RHA), said: ‘Dartford remains the only practical Thames crossing for HGVs and coaches in the South East.

‘It’s therefore regrettable that the charge increase has been so significant.

‘This adds to running costs at an already financially challenging time for many businesses in our sector (HGVs, coaches and vans) and ultimately pushes up prices for consumers.’

The Government has given the go ahead for the Lower Thames Crossing, which it hopes will reducing congestion on the Dartford Crossing

The new crossing will connect the A2 and M2 in Kent to the A13 and M25 in Essex via a 2.6-mile tunnel under the Thames, which would be the UK’s longest road tunnel.

Work on the project has been ongoing since 2009, and more than £800 million of taxpayers’ money has been spent on planning.

On Monday, Treasury minister Emma Reynolds suffered an embarrassing meltdown in a live interview when she struggled to answer basic questions about the new River Thames crossing.

In a toe-curling moment during an interview with LBC, the economic secretary was unable to give the location or the total cost of the project.

She also mistakenly referred to the existing crossing being the ‘Dartmouth Tunnel’, apparently confusing the Devon town with Dartford.

‘I meant Dartford, excuse me, I had a very early morning,’ the minister told LBC Radio.

Asked by presenter Nick Ferrari about the proposed new crossing’s location, Ms Reynolds frantically leafed through paperwork.

‘You’ll forgive me, I can’t recall the landing zone,’ she said.