Dart Charge, the system responsible for handling payments at the Dartford Crossing, has extended its payment and card re-validation deadlines after experiencing significant website problems.
Following recent maintenance work, thousands of drivers encountered difficulties logging into the Dart Charge website. The technical issues caused the site to be unavailable for a period, preventing many users from paying for their crossings and raising concerns about potential fines as original deadlines approached.
In response to these problems, National Highways, the organisation overseeing the Dartford Crossing, issued an apology to customers and announced revised deadlines. Account holders now have until 31 August to update their card details. Non-account holders who crossed between 27 July and 14 August must make their payments by 15 August. Both Pay As You Go users and account holders are required to revalidate their cards to avoid penalties, with the initial cut-off date having been 28 July.
Dart Charge explained that the disruption occurred during essential system upgrades. The management of vehicle identification, payments, and accounts is transitioning to a new provider, Conduent, while Emovis remains responsible for handling penalty charge enquiries.
A Dart Charge spokesperson said, “The websites and customer contact centres are all operating. We apologise for the service issues users have faced over the last few days and have implemented service improvements. While customers may still experience short delays, the average online wait time is now less than 5 minutes.”
They added, “We have further extended payment deadlines to ensure everyone has sufficient time to pay the charge.”
Dart Charge and National Highways thanked drivers for their patience and emphasised that the maintenance work is necessary to ensure the system operates smoothly in the future.
Originally published by UKNIP.
