I have recently become a user of the the Dartford Crossing, something
I need to do every week or so. Coming back South last night with the
family on board we suddenly realised we had made no provision for the
£1 toll. Having slowed to a crawl we eventually scraped together
enough pennies and 5p's from the kids pockets to pay.

Does anyone know what proedure the staff adopt when faced with non
payers ? I asume there must be a mixture of both intentional non
paymers, silly twits like I nearly was and continental arrivees. I
Assume they take Euros for the latter.

I Do not intend non payment !, just interested.

Thanks in advance

Fat Richard

On 21 Sep 2003 11:21:29 -0700 Fat Richard
said...

I have recently become a user of the the Dartford Crossing, something
I need to do every week or so. Coming back South last night with the
family on board we suddenly realised we had made no provision for the
£1 toll. Having slowed to a crawl we eventually scraped together
enough pennies and 5p's from the kids pockets to pay.

Does anyone know what proedure the staff adopt when faced with non
payers ? I asume there must be a mixture of both intentional non
paymers, silly twits like I nearly was and continental arrivees. I
Assume they take Euros for the latter.

Do they not take debit or credit cards?

--
Phil Richards
London, N4

"Phil Richards" wrote in message
...
On 21 Sep 2003 11:21:29 -0700 Fat Richard
said...

I have recently become a user of the the Dartford Crossing, something
I need to do every week or so. Coming back South last night with the
family on board we suddenly realised we had made no provision for the
£1 toll. Having slowed to a crawl we eventually scraped together
enough pennies and 5p's from the kids pockets to pay.

Does anyone know what proedure the staff adopt when faced with non
payers ? I asume there must be a mixture of both intentional non
paymers, silly twits like I nearly was and continental arrivees. I
Assume they take Euros for the latter.

Do they not take debit or credit cards?

--
Phil Richards
London, N4


I'd have thought not, as they'd slow the tolls down too much, although I
could be wrong. Last time I went through (last autumn) most of the lanes
were the sort with a big hoper to throw coins into.

Thinking about it though, once chip and pin cards are introduced in this
country it could be easy to introduce an automated payment system which
would not require signatures but the entry of a pin no. Also, the card
authorisation would not necessarily need to be done at the time of the
transaction, but could be done in batches throughout the day (authorisation
is the part that tends to slow down card payments the most). The risk of
un-authorised charges would be low as the transaction values would be small,
and if linked to a cctv system which photographed car number plates and
indexed with payment transactions, it would be possible to obtain vehicle
keeper contact details from DVLA and write to those whose cards weren't
authorised.


Andrew

On Sun, 21 Sep 2003 20:30:00 +0100 Andrew said...

Do they not take debit or credit cards?

I'd have thought not, as they'd slow the tolls down too much, although I
could be wrong. Last time I went through (last autumn) most of the lanes
were the sort with a big hoper to throw coins into.

Perhaps they ought to have just one lane for those wanting to pay by card
& your penalty is a long queue!

Even if the OP had didn't have enough cash on him to pay the £1 toll, I'd
hope he would have had a credit or debit card. Not really advisable to
drive around without any method of paying for things!

--
Phil Richards
London, N4

Even if the OP had didn't have enough cash on him to pay the £1 toll, I'd
hope he would have had a credit or debit card. Not really advisable to
drive around without any method of paying for things!

Is there a staffed desk? Maybe there is a system for taking down number
plates and billing you later. Through the hastle of checking the
numberplates (with the DVLA?) and sending out a £1 toll would probably be
not worth it, so they may let you off. There could be a £10 penalty fare.
Who knows?
--
To reply direct, remove NOSPAM and replace with railwaysonline
For the Latest News, Information and Photos check out
http://www.railwaysonline.co.uk

On Sun, 21 Sep 2003 21:41:17 +0100, Joe Patrick wrote:
Is there a staffed desk? Maybe there is a system for taking down number

Yes, loads, even at 4AM. There's also a turnoff to the left IIRC.

How could you pay if you only had a £20 note?

Paul Weaver wrote in message ...
On Sun, 21 Sep 2003 21:41:17 +0100, Joe Patrick wrote:
Is there a staffed desk? Maybe there is a system for taking down number

Yes, loads, even at 4AM. There's also a turnoff to the left IIRC.

How could you pay if you only had a £20 note?

Could they not set up a congestion charge style more expensive if you
don't pay first thing. This would mean the desks could be open for
people to pay, people who use the route daily could even get a 'season
pass'

Andrew wrote:
"Phil Richards" wrote in message
...
Do they not take debit or credit cards?


I'd have thought not, as they'd slow the tolls down too much, although I
could be wrong. Last time I went through (last autumn) most of the lanes
were the sort with a big hoper to throw coins into.

Thinking about it though, once chip and pin cards are introduced in this
country it could be easy to introduce an automated payment system which
would not require signatures but the entry of a pin no.

Why would they need a signature now? Whenever you buy a train ticket at
a self-service machine you don't sign for anything - they just spit the
card out and give you a receipt. Couldn't they just do that at the
crossing?

Fat Richard wrote:
I have recently become a user of the the Dartford Crossing, something
I need to do every week or so. Coming back South last night with the
family on board we suddenly realised we had made no provision for the
£1 toll. Having slowed to a crawl we eventually scraped together
enough pennies and 5p's from the kids pockets to pay.

Does anyone know what proedure the staff adopt when faced with non
payers ? I asume there must be a mixture of both intentional non
paymers, silly twits like I nearly was and continental arrivees. I
Assume they take Euros for the latter.

they take your details and give you a little blue paper copy of it. You
either pay off the debt (by handing in the slip plus an extra pound) within
a few days or they send a (larger) bill to your house. Don't know how
aggressively they pursue the unpaid blue slips, probably in reality they
just keep a note and don't let you do it a second time.

On Sun, 21 Sep 2003 21:41:17 +0100, "Joe Patrick"
wrote:

Even if the OP had didn't have enough cash on him to pay the £1 toll, I'd
hope he would have had a credit or debit card. Not really advisable to
drive around without any method of paying for things!

Is there a staffed desk? Maybe there is a system for taking down number
plates and billing you later. Through the hastle of checking the
numberplates (with the DVLA?) and sending out a £1 toll would probably be
not worth it, so they may let you off. There could be a £10 penalty fare.
Who knows?

Slightly different tack but
Is there a left hand drive lane?

--
Andy Minter