The angry thread

[REGP]

Jerry

Sorry to hear about all the extra agro you and Mrs H are experiencing. But at least she wil getting the treatment she needs so try and look on the bright side occasionally.

Ray

[steve836]

Picked my daughter & family up from Gatport Airwick yesterday. Spent forever in traffic jams caused by the Dartford crossing. The b****y bridge must have paid for itself by now it's about time the toll booths were removed. We the motorist pay through the nose in road tax and fuel taxes & I resent being made to pay for something I have paid for several times over!

[EtchedPixels]

Picked my daughter & family up from Gatport Airwick yesterday. Spent forever in traffic jams caused by the Dartford crossing. The b****y bridge must have paid for itself by now it's about time the toll booths were removed. We the motorist pay through the nose in road tax and fuel taxes & I resent being made to pay for something I have paid for several times over!

They are moving to a system where you pay elsewhere before or after crossing. And the bridge btw was paid for by 2003, but the toll was maintained as a traffic management measure which gives them a nice £70m a year to spend on the tube and the bus in front of you ;-)

Alan

[steve836]

Picked my daughter & family up from Gatport Airwick yesterday. Spent forever in traffic jams caused by the Dartford crossing. The b****y bridge must have paid for itself by now it's about time the toll booths were removed. We the motorist pay through the nose in road tax and fuel taxes & I resent being made to pay for something I have paid for several times over!

They are moving to a system where you pay elsewhere before or after crossing. And the bridge btw was paid for by 2003, but the toll was maintained as a traffic management measure which gives them a nice £70m a year to spend on the tube and the bus in front of you ;-)

Alan

So the idea of traffic management is to cause queues for 10 miles either side of the  bridge?

[EtchedPixels]

Yes.. it manages to make people take the train/bus go a different route or just stay at home and cry

[talisman56]

Picked my daughter & family up from Gatport Airwick yesterday. Spent forever in traffic jams caused by the Dartford crossing. The b****y bridge must have paid for itself by now it's about time the toll booths were removed. We the motorist pay through the nose in road tax and fuel taxes & I resent being made to pay for something I have paid for several times over!

We in the West Country feel the same way about the two Severn Crossings - the only difference is that you only pay to go one way, on your way into Wales. While this has the tempering effect on the ambitions of the English side residents to 'take a quick trip into the Principality', it also has the evil requirement for the Welsh side residents to have to pay to go home... 

[EtchedPixels]

Two lands at last connected
Across the waters wide,
And all the tolls collected
Upon the English side.

           -- Harri Webb

[Trainfish]

Harri wrote that before the 2nd crossing was built though. The old bridge has tolls on this side and the new bridge has them in Wales 

What I can never understand is how the cost for a car or even a minibus with up to 9 seats is £6.40 yet a van which generally only carries 2 people costs double that! 

[DesertHound]

Picked my daughter & family up from Gatport Airwick yesterday. Spent forever in traffic jams caused by the Dartford crossing. The b****y bridge must have paid for itself by now it's about time the toll booths were removed. We the motorist pay through the nose in road tax and fuel taxes & I resent being made to pay for something I have paid for several times over!

We in the West Country feel the same way about the two Severn Crossings - the only difference is that you only pay to go one way, on your way into Wales. While this has the tempering effect on the ambitions of the English side residents to 'take a quick trip into the Principality', it also has the evil requirement for the Welsh side residents to have to pay to go home... 

I thought the Dartford crossing was also only a toll Northbound, correct? Is it not a bridge one way (northbound?), which is a toll, and a tunnel southbound, which is free? Haven't used it in quite a while. Still, frustrating I agree.

Here in the "sandpit" we have a few toll roads (one very close to my house actually  ) but it's all done through stickers (chips) in windscreen and an automatic charge when you drive under it. Just top it up via scratch card from a tracery store on your phone, or link it to your bank account. I try not to use it too often mind.

Having to stop and throw change in a bucket or hand it over to a cashier (as in Europe) seems pretty pre-historic nowadays.

I think the ultimate system would be scrap petrol taxes, fit some kind of RFID chips into cars and then charge according to WHERE you use your car and WHEN you use your car. All very big brother I know, but it could really target the peak periods and hone in on known black spots. A message on your dash could even advise you what your current charge is, or you could punch in a route before leaving home and it would advise which route is cheapest.

Then again, there's the option of doing nothing ...

Very frustrating for you Steve, I'm sure.

Dan

[Greybeema]

There are a growing number of Toll roads in Ireland.  The charging works on the principle of Reg Number recognition then you pay later however most people have a prepaid electronic tag on their car so it is paid straight away.  No delays, in fact you don't even slow down.

The tag can even be used in some car parks...

[tutenkhamunsleeping]

Two lands at last connected
Across the waters wide,
And all the tolls collected
Upon the English side.

           -- Harri Webb

Good old Sir Cliff

[Michael Shillabeer]

When I worked in South Wales last year I had an electronic tag in my car and paid the bridge tolls once a month by direct debit.
Didn't have to queue either.
Best regards
Michael

[steve836]

When I worked in South Wales last year I had an electronic tag in my car and paid the bridge tolls once a month by direct debit.
Didn't have to queue either.
Best regards
Michael

These electronic methods of collection would certainly ease the traffic problems caused by our antiquated methods, but they don't address the basic unfairness of making the motorist pay again for something he has already paid for several times over through car tax and fuel taxes.

[DesertHound]

When I worked in South Wales last year I had an electronic tag in my car and paid the bridge tolls once a month by direct debit.
Didn't have to queue either.
Best regards
Michael

These electronic methods of collection would certainly ease the traffic problems caused by our antiquated methods, but they don't address the basic unfairness of making the motorist pay again for something he has already paid for several times over through car tax and fuel taxes.

Completely agree with you Steve. Which is why I said abolish petrol tax and charge via GPS. Then you can vary the charges according to location (congestion) and time of day (congestion).

Make petrol 30p per litre and the government can still make up the shortfall from no petrol tax via locational/timing charging. So long as they don't go above and beyond the previous tax take from petrol (yeah, right!)

When I lived up the road I paid 13p per litre - hadn't changed since 1983! Government subsidized of course! Where I am now it's 30p per litre (more than double) but it still only costs 21 quid to fill up a 70 litre tank.

Ah ... but before you think I'm bragging, try 6-10 quid for a pint in a bar  ... and it's cr*ppy beer at that!

Dan

Dan

[steve836]

Not sure I entirely agree with your solution. I personally would benefit as I live out in the sticks and rarely take my own car into a large town but people who live and work in areas of  high road use usually do so because that is where the jobs are and there is something wrong with penalising people for something which isn't their fault. The real answer would be for the government to use the money they already from road use to improve the roads.