The government has made a lot more than £92 million from Dartford crossing fines in the last financial year, up from £60 million the previous year.
Official accounts show total income for the crossing over the river Thames was £204.5 million for 2016/17 financial year (up from £168.4 million in 2015/16), with nearly half of all income being made up of “enforcement” action, or fines.
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• All you need to know about The Dartford crossing toll
The report qualities the spike in profits to “increased use of enforcement management procedures introduced through the Dart charge scheme and an increase in the number of crossings over the period” – though traffic was only up by 2.7 per cent compared to the previous year, while enforcement action boosted 53 per cent.
Total profits from fines would have been even higher, but £42 million’s worth were written off due to “penalty charges not issued on a timely basis, service company error, and drivers’ automobile keeper’s details not being available”.
The report’s authors also highlight that the entire cost of the bridge and two tunnels over the Thames at Dartford was fully paid off by March 2002, but penalties and toll fees from the new Dart charge initiative are expected to bring in £1.6 billion over a 25-year period.