It’s been a fairly constant moan of mine in recent times, but I’m getting more and more annoyed with the Dartford Crossing.
Or specifically, the fact that the Government is so greedy that it continues with a toll that defies logic.
Since the powers that be decided that charging £1 wasn’t enough for travelling on a piece of road that car tax, fuel tax and VAT on the purchase of the thing have already covered, it’s been absolute carnage in both directions. From last November, a 50% price hike was deemed a sensible and appropriate way to treat the British public as we tumbled into recession. So the past few months have seen what, anecdotally at least, has been increased journey times as drivers fumble around to find extra change.
In times of such financial and environmental pressure, I fail to see the justification in maintaining a toll that causes so much pollution and congestion, and costs business and private individuals so much money. Especially as we were promised when the tunnel and subsequent bridge were opened that the toll would be scrapped as soon as it had covered the cost of building and maintenance. That ruling was quickly reversed when the cash started rolling in. The most recent figures show the Dartford crossing took more than £67m from drivers in the 2007/08 accounting year.
