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.”

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Leading Finland’s transport revolution
    July 18, 2017
    Anne Berner, Finland’s minister of transport and communications, does not fit the normal political mould. She is not a career politician but a business executive who became a member of parliament in 2015 and has said from the outset that she will only serve one term. Without concerns about being re-elected and a clear view of the future of transport, Berner can concentrate on what needs to be done - tackling some of the more contentious and intransigent subjects. Her name is best known for two major initiat
    Read More
  • VMS can counter small screens’ big problems
    June 9, 2015
    Lacroix Trafic’s Steve Collins believes the improving trends in road safety could go into reverse unless authorities make full use of the latest LED technology to meet drivers’ information needs. Road authorities and vehicles manufacturers could and should be far more active in countering some of the transportation industry’s major problems, according to Steve Collins export sales director at Lacroix Trafic.
    Read More
  • Interview: Jarrett Walker, author of Human Transit
    May 2, 2018
    Elon Musk has called him a ‘sanctimonious idiot’ but public transit expert Jarrett Walker tells Andrew Stone that more data and smarter cars aren't the answer to mass mobility...
    Read More
  • Connected offers free I2V connectivity
    November 1, 2016
    A new system could reduce the cost of implementing I2V communications across a city to less than that for a single intersection, as Colin Sowman hears. It may seem too good to be true but US company Connected Signals is offering city authorities the equipment to provide infrastructure to vehicle (I2V) communications for free. The system enables drivers to receive information about the timing of signals they are approaching via the EnLighten smartphone app (or connected in-vehicle display).
    Read More

Highlighted Content