Gone are the toll booth queues which must have affected bridge workers' lungs, but this is not the case at Dartford where despite continual lobbying by business, residents and local papers on both the Kent and Essex side of the Thames, it is proposed to raise the standard toll charges from £1 by 50 per cent to £1.50 

Everyone who travels on the M25 knows the Dartford gridlock problems with traffic stretching for miles, the stink of fuel, the effect on business costs and all the time the government is raking in £50 million a year which would rise to £75 million with the increase and very little comes back.

The charge was introduced in 1963, designed to pay for the construction costs of the tunnels and latterly the bridge. These costs were finally paid off in 2002 and the legal authority to charge a toll expired in April 2003. However, the Government decided to
continue the toll under the guise of a congestion charge, but what other route can travellers take?

The only other crossings are in Central London and there's a congestion charge there too. Looking at the figures in Hansard it appears the crossing is making a 75 per cent profit after operating costs each year. The government might argue there is no option to fund local transport infrastructure, but looking again at the Hansard figures, not much is coming back anyway.

Perhaps Kent County Council leader Paul Carter's idea of having a toll booth coming out of Dover for foreign lorries might make up the difference because to date they travel through this country for free, even stocking up with fuel in such countries as Luxembourg.

Thames Gateway Chamber is now calling for a halt to any further increases and asks members to visit the following website http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/dartxx/ and sign the petition being made to the Prime Minister. The Chamber would also like to throw its weight behind consideration to abolish the toll completely.

Chamber chairman and industrialist Bob Russell said:" Any proposal to increase the "Toll" on the Dartford river crossing can only be viewed as an attack on business and the community within the Thames Gateway Region.

"There is no justification in having any toll charge, since the crossing was paid for in full by 2003. No other Thames crossing carries a toll. This proposal will hurt companies and individuals alike at a time when all forms of road transport are suffering badly as a result of 30 per cent plus increases in fuel costs.
 
"In actual fact the very existence of toll booths at the crossing, causes unnecessary delays to traffic and are therefore adding to air pollution and the waste of fuel while the engines of thousands of cars and trucks idle.
 
"The right thing to do would be for the toll booths and the tolls to be removed completely, freeing up transport communications on both sides of the river."