Dartford Crossing

[SuperGinger]

I crossed on Saturday despite my best efforts I cannot pay, the website is down, they were doing maintenance on it and I've tried a few times but apparently I'm in a queue which doesn't seem to move AiBU to think they need to waive the charge? Anyone else in the same situation?

Sorry for anecdote- more usefully
“National Highways also confirmed it would further extend payment deadlines to ensure everyone has sufficient time to pay the charge.
Dart Charge account holders have until August 31 to update their card details on the website.
Non-account holders who use the crossing between Thursday (July 27) and August 14, will have until the August 15 to pay the charge.”
From Here

Thanks for the update @Lamelie.

@LlynTegid I'm sure there's been lots of consultants and contractors earning a hefty wage for this project though!!

Jesus wept trying to pay for yesterday’s crossing was hard work.

The gov.uk site eventually loads up, but if you select the option “Pay for crossings without an account” you can only pay for crossings planned in the future, despite that option saying “pay for crossings you’ve made since yesterday”

Durr, what a shitshow.

So I thought I’d try to pay by phone. After 35 mins the call was answered, and it was obvious it’s been outsourced to India (deep breath), but they couldn’t hear me and they sounded like they were under water, so that was the end of that.

Eventually went to a payzone at the post office, cost me £3 instead of £2.50, hmm. Not confident I won’t receive a PCN.

Trebles all round for whoever signed this off.

Thanks for the update @Lamelie. What a shitshow. I shall leave it a few days for the dust to settle before doing battle with the call centre again to get my account unlocked and the payment card updated.

Need to do a couple more crossings this weekend, so I'm just going to forget the account and pay in the usual way for those.

Why would you not pay in advance? I cannot imagine crossing one side of the Thames to the other as a spur of the moment journey,

I regularly drive from Norfolk to South London. It’s 50/50 which is swifter- Rotherhithe or Dartford crossing.

i set up a pay as you go account on Monday, got acknowledgment, crossed yesterday, no record on my account. So now what…….
Have emailed again.

@Soapyspuds depends where you are travelling from and the traffic on the day. I decide on the M6 toll based on traffic reports if I'm going M1 or M40 and whether clockwise or anticlockwise to the M20 is the fastest if we use the M40. The passenger has always just paid immediately after we've crossed/as we are crossing so we don't forget. Now I'm trying to pay for the crossing I made on Saturday and can't do it. I'm not going to add money to the future crossing because I currently have absolutely no need to cross again in the next 12 months.

This is on Facebook

I regularly drive from Norfolk to South London. It’s 50/50 which is swifter- Rotherhithe or Dartford crossing

Right so the pre payment option makes sense for you.

You set up an account and they debit the money off each time you cross. Plus the price is only £2.00 rather than £2.50 when paid in advance. The account just sits there until you need it next. I think they only close them after 12 months without driving across.

I know this isn't the point but that bridge is terrifying. I was still shaking when I got to Clackett Lane services 20 miles down the road.

I managed to speak to them today. I have a local resident account. My account is showing up all wrong with no car assigned as the one with the local discount. They have said it could take a week to reboot and update the account so it corrects itself and confirmed that they extended the deadline for payments to mid august. It is a shit show tho!

I still don’t know how to pay for a past crossing. I paid online for my car registration and it just shows that it’s waiting to be allocated to a future crossing . I’ve given up for now and will call them when I’m not on holiday!

I know! Indeed my lovely Norfolk family who use the crossing regularly had my car before registered on their account. The issue (and I acknowledge it’s a niche one) is that new car was registered exempt. It took months of mithering DVLA to issue a new V5 and I’m still not entirely convinced I’m not accruing tolls and fines I then can’t pay. Hence avoiding the crossing. Anyhoo for us, having crossed against my better judgement then spending hours on the phone, then heart sinking when told no charge (is it still registered exempt?!?!) I realised we’d crossed after 10 🤦🏻‍♀️

@MelonsOnSaleAgain I did the same

I finally got through to the payment line. I crossed twice over the weekend. The system tells me that I have no crossing to pay for.
i crossed at 13.00 and 18.00h
I’m giving in.

It really isn’t . If you want a terrifying bridge try the Sheppey crossing !

Sorry forgot the point of posting , we are all on my sisters account and she’s away at the moment so do I need to actually pay until she resets the account ?

Finally got through on the phone today to Dart customer services (only a 15 minute wait). I was told there was something wrong with my Dart account; they could only see one car (and not the car that crossed twice last weekend), no name on the account, and no crossing history. After claiming that the account had never been used (err.....yes, it has, many times!), she conceded that there must "a problem with the new system" - she couldn't unfortunately help, so could I please call back in a few days? 😤Well, that was useful.

So I've given up on accessing my account for now, and have just done a regular online payment for two future crossings (for this weekend). There's a £10 credit showing "pending" from my bank, but no idea where it has gone.

Oh no @CointreauVersial I can't believe they said you need to call back again

Oh god, I crossed on Monday and had given up trying to pay this week, I'm crossing back again tomorrow so thought I would do all the pain at once. It's a new car, I don't have the new logbook after the dealer sent it off, and I don't have an account. I will never be able to pay, will I?!

@Lamelie that's exactly the issue I have- I don't have the new V5 yet and it was registered exempt with the previous owner as disabled- and the dart site says it is still registered exempt. I don't suppose anyone's found an email address for enquiries? The website is only letting me pay for future crossings. At least that way I can evidence I tried to pay it.

I can't realistically see they will be able to issue PCNs for this period at all.

Good to know as going to cross today

I’m pretty sure they won’t issue pcns, maybe take screenshots?
Funnily enough it was only because of the crossing I knew my car was mis registered. Id tried to pay once and it just said exempt- that’s weird, maybe because it’s hybrid? Then when the tax was due it again said exempt but then nhs exempt flashed up- fortunately I screenshot that because I didn’t receive an email. I then wrote to dvla (and had to order a cheques book) then randomly I received a cheque for £10 so heaven knows.
There is a form you can fill in and get email confirmation from
https://pay-dartford-crossing-charge.service.gov.uk/query-choice

You have until the 15/8 to pay- you may get new dvla and car correctly registered by then though.

Thanks @Lamelie , have messaged them so at least there is a paper trail I tried!