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Quesues at the Dartford crossing are costing the economy £40 million a year, ministers admitted today.
The Department for Transport, which estimated the figure for 2007, said the congestion was caused by the volume of traffic, not the tolls on vehicles.
Colin Stanbridge, chief executive of the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said: "There are simply not enough river crossings in their area and so we need the Mayor to look again at building the Thames Gateway Bridge." Congestion is expected to get worse as east London's population grows.
Reader views (7)
why does Gordon Brown think he has yhe right to sell the crossing when it is not his to sell.That crossing was paid for by the motoring public & was ment to have the tolls removed three years ago.I use this crossing on a regular basis & the wait to cross is getting longer & longer and it is all down to the collection of the tolls now that we have so many forigne trucks on our roads there is no place for left hand drive trucks to pay?
- Hugh Stilwell, croydon surrey
Sorry drivers but i think i have contributed to the £40 million cost of delays at the DARTFORD TUNNEL. You see since the increase of toll to £1.50 i use a bag of 10p pieces to pay my toll evey day. Now if every driver did the same for a week or so they would be weighed down with so much change there may be a chance they could scrap the charge.
- Mr S.Port, London
How about a simple experiment. Stop the tolls for a week, and see if the traffic jams get better, worse or stay the same? Until then, no-one knows.
Some time ago Southwark bridge was closed for repairs, everyone expected traffic chaos, but in fact traffic flows in the area and over adjacent bridges improved when it closed! Unfortunately, they then re-opened Southwark Bridge.
- Nigel, London
Funny how it's the volume of traffic not the tolls causing the congestion. Every time I drive over it the traffic is moving freely until you get near the tolls and is then gridlock. After the tolls traffic is fine again.
Why aren't these blatant lies picked up on?
- Craig, London
When the government carried out the "consutltation" on retaining the tolls at Dartford they came out with a figure of increase in traffic if the tolls were scrapped (something like 10% by 2010).
I wrote, as part of the consultation, to the DOT to find out what the expected rate of increase would be by 2010 if the tolls were retained.
Could not get a striaght answer at all.
It was a lie, the congestion argument. If the tolls do not cause the congestion, why does it ease following the tolls (baring any separate problems)?
Of course, this particular government thinks you are a sap that'll take anything if you bend over far enough, and since not enough people bothered to be engaged, the retention of the tolls was just railroaded through.
- Escobar A-Lop-Lop, Camden County
Doing away with the tolls will ease the congestion and that will save at least £40m a year and probably more. Simple.
- Graham Rodhouse, Helmond, Netherlands
"The Department for Transport, which estimated the figure for 2007, said the congestion was caused by the volume of traffic, not the tolls on vehicles."
I gaurantee you they cannot say that now, ever since the tolls have been increased to £1.50 for cars the congestion has got far worse. Therefore the tolls are causing the delays to journeys. The original charter for the toll bridge was to recoup the costs of building then remove the tolls.
Why don't this government stick to the original intent - o yea coz the country is goign to hell in a handcart and they need to raise revenue anyway they can!!!!
- Paul, Londinium
