Changes to the payment system for journeys across the Dartford Crossing have been put in place today.

To avoid potential Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs), drivers were asked to take action on their accounts by National Highways.

The responsibility for vehicle identification, payment processing, and account management has been transferred to a new service provider named Conduent.

Initially, it was stated that Dart Charge account holders, including Pay as You Go customers, would be mandatory to re-validate their payment cards by July 28, 2023, due to these changes. 

However, National Highways has announced that due to an extended maintenance window of the service, this will no longer be possible until the service re-opened today on July 30 but the cards will still require re-validating.

National Highways proactively reached out to affected customers and provided them with "easy to follow instructions" upon logging into their accounts.

A National Highways spokesperson said: "We initially wrote to all Dart Charge account holders in May 2023. The second direct communication to account holders began on the 3 July and will complete on the 22 July."

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It is crucial for customers to ensure they have revalidated their cards, as failure to do so may result in crossings not being automatically paid.

This oversight could potentially lead to the issuance of PCNs. Therefore, customers are advised to check their accounts promptly.

National Highways says it has “undertaken customer research to ensure customer needs have been incorporated into the new design” and that these changes hope to make it a more accessible service.

Emovis will continue to issue and handle enquiries for Penalty Charge Notices.

Helen Watkinson, Head of Road User Charging, Dart Charge, said: “We are really excited about the changes to Dart Charge.

“We have worked hard to design a customer centric service with the new suppliers, really putting the customer at the heart of our design.

“Whilst there are improvements from day one, we have further exciting improvements in the pipeline to further enhance the service offer and offer customers more flexibility.

“We will announce further changes as they come online. We thank our customers for their feedback which has helped to design the new service and look forward to continuing that customer relationship to further improve the service.

“Customers can leave feedback and comments on the website: https://pay-dartford-crossing-charge.service.gov.uk/Home”

The Dartford Crossing, a bridge built at a cost of £120m, was officially opened by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in October 1991.

It marked the first bridge to be constructed at a new location along the River Thames in over 50 years.

As the longest single span bridge in Europe at the time, it measured a remarkable length of over 2,872 meters.

With the completion of the M25 motorway in 1986, the Dartford tunnels played a crucial role as a link in the national road network.

However, the volume of traffic rapidly surpassed the designed capacity of 65,000 vehicles per day.

Forecasts projected an annual count of more than 40 million vehicles.

Due to the Dartford Tunnel's operations being regulated by an Act of Parliament, new legislation was necessary for the transfer of the crossing from Kent and Essex County Councils to Dartford River Crossing Limited.

This process was successfully completed on July 31st, 1988, and construction of the bridge commenced just a few days later.