Dart Charge appeals to be given 'impartial' consideration

author: FutureCar Staff    

Roads minister Richard Holden has assured drivers that they will receive a fair hearing from National Highways if they face fines due to issues with the Dart Charge payment system. The payment system for journeys across the Dartford Crossing was taken over by Conduent on July 28, while Emovis continued to handle penalty charge notices. However, the transition caused difficulties for many drivers who struggled to update their accounts, make payments, or reach the call center for assistance.

In a letter to Dartford MP Gareth Johnson, Holden stated that a "fix has now been deployed" to address the technical problems. He highlighted the high demand for the new payment service, with over 1 million individual customers using the website, 40,000 opening new accounts, and over 404,000 updating their payment card details. While the system is working well for most customers, National Highways acknowledges the technical issues faced by some and is working with Conduent to resolve them.

Holden mentioned that 62,000 calls related to the Dart Charge have been answered since July 28, and 44 additional staff members have been recruited to the customer call center. However, waiting times currently stand at 45 minutes, which is deemed unacceptable. Online, the system is serving over 40,000 customers daily with no waiting time. Holden emphasized that drivers who were unable to pay the Dart Charge due to technical issues will not be penalized, and those receiving penalty charge notices will have two weeks to respond and pay at the original charge rate. National Highways will also consider appeals against penalties fairly.

Following the difficulties faced by drivers, National Highways extended the grace period for updating Dart Charge payment card details by an additional 14 days. This applies to drivers who made crossings from July 27, when the new payment system went live. Some motorists struggled to access the system and experienced long wait times when trying to pay the Dart Charge. National Highways has designed the penalty charge notice process to give registered vehicle keepers a final prompt to update their payment card details and pay the Road User Charge.

Dartford MP Gareth Johnson expressed his concerns about the changeover to the new system, stating that it had been a shambles. He had previously met with National Highways and was assured that their IT systems could handle the transition. However, the situation has not improved significantly, with long wait times for phone calls and email responses. Johnson criticized National Highways for choosing to carry out the changeover during the busiest month of the year for the crossing, despite having two years to prepare.

FutureCar Staff