Drivers lost more than £3.6million in unused Dart Charge payments in the last two years – with the Government keeping most of the funds.
A new Freedom of Information (FOI) request revealed there were £1,812,379 unused Dart Charge payments in the 2023/24 fiscal year, on top of £1,790,559 from the previous year. This means £3,602,938 was racked up in unused payments.
The Department for Transport (DfT) told This is Money, who issued the FOI request to National Highways, that the “vast majority” of these expired payments are not refunded and are therefore kept by the Government.
Dart Charge payments – which cost £3.50 each way and are used by motorists to cross the Dartford Crossing between Essex and Kent – remain valid for 12 months before they expire.
Drivers can ask for a refund on Dart Charges within the 12 month expiration period. For drivers with Dart Charge accounts that become dormant, the money remaining is refunded back to the account holder using the original payment details.
The Dartford Crossing is used by as many as 180,000 vehicles each day.
A spokesperson for the DfT told This is Money: “All Dart Charge revenue is paid to the DfT and spent on transport projects which benefit people across Essex and Kent, such as the Lower Thames Crossing.”
The Mirror has contacted the DfT for additional comment. AA president Edmund King said: “The real irony is the Dartford crossing original agreement was that the tolls would stop once the bridge’s construction costs were paid off, a milestone reached in 2003.
“However, the government reversed its decision, retaining the charges to manage traffic and as a general revenue raiser.”
the Transport Act 2000 introduced charging schemes for all trunk roads, bridges and tunnels that spanned more than 600m (1,969ft) which allowed the Highways Agency to continue to charge a crossing fee.
The Government increased the Dart Charge in September 2025. The fees were last increased in 2014. It comes as the Government has given the go ahead for the Lower Thames Crossing, which it hopes will reducing congestion on the Dartford Crossing
The new crossing will connect the A2 and M2 in Kent to the A13 and M25 in Essex via a 2.6-mile tunnel under the Thames, which would be the UK’s longest road tunnel.
Work on the project has been ongoing since 2009, and more than £800million of taxpayers’ money has been spent on planning.
