Skip to main content

Foreign drivers cannot avoid paying Dart Charge, says RHA

The news that over one million non-UK drivers have managed to avoid paying the Dart Charge when travelling over the Dartford Crossing comes as little surprise to the Road Haulage Association *RHA). Speaking to BBC Kent, RHA policy director Duncan Buchanan said: “This issue was identified from the moment the Freeflow system was introduced, and it is still a problem. Foreign drivers should pay: it’s as simple as that. It is very concerning that there are still hauliers making the crossing for free.” Fin
August 22, 2017 Read time: 2 mins
The news that over one million non-UK drivers have managed to avoid paying the Dart Charge when travelling over the Dartford Crossing comes as little surprise to the 6985 Road Haulage Association *RHA).


Speaking to BBC Kent, RHA policy director Duncan Buchanan said: “This issue was identified from the moment the Freeflow system was introduced, and it is still a problem. Foreign drivers should pay: it’s as simple as that. It is very concerning that there are still hauliers making the crossing for free.”

Fines totalling more than US$104 million (£81 million) have been passed on to a European debt recovery agency since the Dart Charge began in 2014.

Speaking to BBC Radio, celebrity lawyer Nick Freeman said it ‘sent out a bad message’. He claimed it could be sorted without too much difficulty. "The government need to grasp this because the amount of money is exorbitant and it's totally unfair," he added.

"The point is there are millions and millions of foreign drivers who come over to this country and they pay nothing to use our roads. We go abroad, we have to pay."

A 8101 Highways England spokesman told the BBC: "The vast majority of drivers are paying their Dart Charge correctly, and the number of foreign drivers not paying on time makes up less than one per of total crossings. Non-payment is being followed up fairly and appropriately, using all legal means, both in the UK and abroad."

Buchanan concluded, “We need enforcement to ensure that the appropriate Dart Charge is collected from all crossing users and the RHA considers it to be totally unfair that there are still many who are making the crossing free of charge. It is a great concern that we just don’t know just how many crossing users are dodging the charge.”

Related Content

  • January 23, 2012
    Changing driving conditions need ongoing driver training
    Trevor Ellis, chairman of the ITS UK Enforcement Interest Group, considers the role of ongoing driver training in increasing compliance. It is over 30 years since I passed my driving test. The world was quite a different place then, in that there were only half the vehicles there are now on the UK's roads, mobile phones did not really exist and (in the UK at least) the vast majority of us drove cars which by today's standards exhibited dreadful dynamic stability and were woefully underpowered.
  • November 3, 2014
    German road toll to cost foreign drivers up to €130 a year
    The German government has introduced a controversial road toll which will force foreign car drivers to pay up to €130 (US$162) a year for using Germany's autobahn motorways.
  • February 27, 2012
    An 'E' for effort
    A friend of mine's wife used to work on a ladies' magazine.
  • September 8, 2023
    A more equitable approach to road charging: is the technology there yet?
    Thinking around road user charging, distance-based payments, and even mileage rationing is ever-widening with new concepts and suggestions being aired and brought forward every other week. Yet, as Jorgen Petersen of Systra explains, there are already many solutions in place throughout the world which promote modal shift, reduce traffic and improve air quality…