Motorists have stumped up more than £250,000 in Dart Charge fines when they should have merely paid the road user charge itself, reveals Dartsave.

Highways England says that 7,424 penalty charge notices (PCNs) were settled by drivers using the Dartford Crossing.

If all of these notices were settled at the discounted rate of £35 per PCN the amount collected would be £259,840, but with some paying the full £70 fine it's likely to be more.

Yet, Dartsave says that these motorists haven’t realised that they can claim back their payment from Dart Charge as they should never have had to pay it. This is because Dart Charge offered motorists being fined for the first time under the new system two weeks to pay the road user charge of £2.50 per car, instead of the fine.

"Road users who have paid a penalty charge during their discretionary period can contact us for a refund of the difference," Highways England told Dartsave.

"This is another example of Dart Charge profiting from Dartford Crossing users being confused about their system and how it works," says Dartsave director Chris Billing. "It's another in a long line of issues we've encountered with Dart Charge.

“Questions should be raised about them issuing 601,256 PCNs in the first five months of going live as that's a huge amount. If the system worked perfectly, it would be more understandable but in our opinion it is deeply flawed."

Dartsave.co.uk offers motorists an alternative way to pay the toll. They sign up for free and are charged per crossing, with 21 days to pay and a guarantee that they'll never incur the Dart Charge fine.

"We've launched a petition at www.dartrage.co.uk to call for the Government to demand a refund from Sanef Operations Ltd, who will be paid £367 million to run the Dart Charge system over a ten year period," explains Billing.

"We believe the systemic issues mean it will never operate properly and should therefore be scrapped and replaced as soon as possible."

More articles on: