Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU The hell that is the Dartford Crossing

60 replies

Magicpaintbrush · 19/08/2016 19:36

What would it take for the government to put their hand in their pocket and build an alternative crossing to the hellish stretch of road that is the Dartford Crossing??? This has surely got to be in the running for the worst and most stressful road in the UK. Once you are on the approach to it there is no escape if it all goes tits up, you can be stuck for literally hours. If only there was another route, or even a car ferry.

It is absolute shite. I hate driving it. I doubt I'm the only one.

OP posts:
APlaceOnTheCouch · 19/08/2016 21:12

Can anyone explain to me why you can't pay at the crossing and have to go through the online rigmarole? I was Confused when I realised.

Hidingtonothing · 19/08/2016 21:16

DH has had work down there a couple of times lately (we live in the Midlands) and it's taken him around 6 hours to get home each time, largely due to problems with the crossing. Tbh we both feel dread everytime he gets any work which involves using the M25 but Dartford Crossing just adds insult to injury.

PikachuSayBoo · 19/08/2016 21:16

Cost cutting, not having to pay booth attendants.

And I guess also cuts down on traffic jams.

HerdsOfWilderbeest · 19/08/2016 21:17

It's cheaper for them to do it online.

We shouldn't actually be paying for the tunnel/ bridge. The promise was that we would pay for it until the cost of building it was complete. But it's such a cash cow they can't stop charging people.

CatThiefKeith · 19/08/2016 21:18

There is a big conspiracy theory going on in Thurrock that the crossing is being closed at the drop of a hat so that the area gridlocks and people will stop campaigning against option C.

The FB group is called Thames Crossing Proposals if you fancy a look

HerdsOfWilderbeest · 19/08/2016 21:18

The whole thing is appalling.

CatThiefKeith · 19/08/2016 21:19

The crossing was sold a few years ago Wilderbeest.

It is French owned now I think.

missingmumxox · 19/08/2016 21:20

I love how people seem to think we all want to head into London when used the Dartford Crossing, I never go into London with my car, alway use the train, I am heading to the midlands or lakeside.
That said I am now no longer heading to Lakeside or IKEA as the Dart payment is a fucking joke, both me and my husband have been issue penalty notices when we have paid, both rescinded with a stern don't do it againAngry
So basically I have stopped shopping there.

CatThiefKeith · 19/08/2016 21:22

And this is probably why you can't pay at the actual crossing now.

I live one side of it and my parents live the other. I can't wait for option C personally!

VanillaSugar · 19/08/2016 21:24

A bad experience at the far right ticket booths? Dear god, what is this country coming to? Were they wearing black shirts?

RattieOfCatan · 19/08/2016 21:33

Yanbu. It's worse now than it was before they changed the system! We live on one side and travel often across it to visit family, we try to travel in the evening after rush hour when we can but we've had to go back three or four times during the day the past few months and it's a fucking nightmare. Even between 10 and 3!

bibbitybobbityyhat · 19/08/2016 21:36

We go across the Dartford Crossing a few times a year to visit inlaws.

The most outrageous things about it imvho are:

  1. the charge has gone up from £1 to £2.50 within less than 10 years
  2. there was a promise that the charge would be scrapped when the bridge was paid for, but that has been forgotten
  3. there is no way to pay cash, you can ONLY PAY ONLINE? WTAF??? Was just saying to dh as we blundered our way through the Spanish tolls on our recent holiday, we wouldn't have had a fucking chance if we'd been expected to pay online like you are with the Dart crossing. We wouldn't have been able to understand the one or two warning signs in the run up to the tolls as we are not good Spanish speakers. The Dartford crossing is taking the absolute piss out of non-techy, non-native English speakers.

Oooooh it makes my blood boil and I really don't have to suffer it all that often.

Yanbu op!

Original poster
Magicpaintbrush · 19/08/2016 21:37

I don't suppose there is a solution that will please everybody but it certainly can't go on as it currently is. The roads - and the southeast in general - seem to get busier every year. If my family didn't all live in the south east we would seriously consider moving elsewhere in the country because of it.

OP posts:
Original poster
Magicpaintbrush · 19/08/2016 21:40

I never even thought how awkward the online system of toll payment must be for non english speaking users of the crossing - must be a nightmare.

OP posts:
bibbitybobbityyhat · 19/08/2016 21:40

Also, the elderly pils live in extremely rural Suffolk where their broadband provision is so useless they wouldn't bother with the internet even if they could embrace modern technology and get their heads round it. So when they come to visit us, we have to log on and pay the charge for them! No problems with doing that from a money pov, but FFS.

Fredmitten · 19/08/2016 21:41

We live one side, in laws the other. FIL very ill so lots of visiting, so far one good crossing in ten, of the three this week so far two have taken an hour longer than they should have done due to bridge/tunnel. Fingers crossed for tomorrow. One was a prang, other two just weight of traffic - we need another crossing point.

Toooldtobearsed · 19/08/2016 21:46

We re waiting for a fine letter to arrive.......

Went through the tunnel and saw the notices to pay by midnight the following day. No problem, we thought. However, on a campsite in rural Norfolk, easier said than done. I managed to connect the following day by driving to a wifi area, but the bloody site just hung. I sat watching a little circle go around and around, then time out altogether. After 40 minutes, i gave up, so paid the £2.50 three days late.

No doubt the buggers will be posting me a lovely letter right now.

MyBeard · 19/08/2016 21:49

We also live 10 minutes away (in good traffic!) from the crossing, Kent side. The tunnel seems to be closed more then ever lately, and the traffic in the whole of Dartford and surrounding areas is awful when it is. You can't get anywhere! I'm dreading the theme park and bluewater extension and to top it off, bluewater at Christmas traffic is already hell on earth!

unimagmative13 · 19/08/2016 21:52

It's hell!

It was closed Wednesday 2am to 2pm caused chaos, a women drove into the barrier at 2am.

unimagmative13 · 19/08/2016 21:55

As for the fine, if it a first offence you just get a warning letter to tell you to pay the £2.50. The shit thing is if you've already paid the £2.50 late you still have to pay it again when the letter arrives.

You can pay before on your account, maybe always leave £5 in there just in case.

HarrietVane99 · 19/08/2016 22:00

bluewater at Christmas traffic is already hell on earth!

A few years ago I travelled down the A2 the day after Boxing Day and saw the length of the queue waiting to turn off at the exit for Bluewater. Why on earth anyone would want to spend a Bank Holiday afternoon sitting in a traffic queue on the A2 is beyond me. Bluewater isn't going anywhere and ime it's usually pretty quiet in late Jan and Feb.

duffbeergoggles · 19/08/2016 22:03

I hate it. I work in Dartford and regularly get stuck in local traffic on my way to, or home from work (and often both).

It has got to the stage that I'm suffering from stress because of the journey which has often taken more than double the time it should take- so well over 2 hours each way and i work F/T. I'm regularly late for work and can't make commitments for evenings because I never know if I'll make it.

APlaceOnTheCouch · 19/08/2016 22:06

Thanks for explaining its background. I'd never heard of it till DH got a fine in a few weeks ago.

Plaintalkin · 19/08/2016 22:12

Unless you use the crossing regularly you can't appreciate how much better it's been since the toll went in online without booths.

It stops the horrible traffic jams every morning and night solely because people had to stop and pay . There were those who waited till they got to the booth to even look for money.

There will be an alternative crossing, there are several options and if you google it you can go online and comment on what you think.

MyBeard · 19/08/2016 22:15

HarrietVane99 it's bad in the run up to Christmas too, it once took me 4 hours to do a 20 minute journey on the 21st of December