New Dartford Crossing safety system to go live in June

The Dartford Crossing will see a new traffic management system go live over the weekend of 13-14 June, which will aim to prevent oversized vehicles from entering the tunnels.

The system will identify oversized vehicles and stop them with a series of traffic lights and barriers.

Stopped vehicles will then be re-routed by the lights and turned away from the tunnel. The new system will also stop dangerous goods vehicles travelling in the wrong lane, and will ensure they have escorts when they use the tunnels.

Dart Charge project director Nigel Gray said: “This new safety system is vital for the safe operation of the tunnels and will enable us to remove the old payment barriers for good. It will mean a significant change to the road layout, so I advise drivers to take extra care and pay extra attention to all signs and signals, especially for the first few times they use the crossing following the change.”

CM recently discovered that Dart Charge, the new payment system for the Dartford Crossing, could potentially be costing hauliers thousands of pounds following an oversight in the payment process.

Hauliers receiving penalty charge notices (PCNs) were originally granted a 14 day amnesty to settle any payments for crossings made subsequent to the one listed in the penalty document at the standard crossing rate, even if they had received a penalty charge that the haulier was yet to receive.

It transpired that this had not been implemented into Dart Charge's payment process, leaving many paying unwittingly paying off PCNs they were exempt from. 

Dart Charge told CM the problem has now been fixed.