On Mon, 8 Oct 2012 10:52:05 +0100
"tim....." wrote:
entirely satisfactory. Most seem to work on a pre-payment "honesty" basis

I like the idea of that. Let the mugs pay and the rest of us drive over
the bridge that was paid for by tolls in 2003 after which Lying Labour said
the tolls would be removed. Naturally, being a cash cow they weren't.
And the tunnel was paid for by central government as per the rest of the road
system and should never have had tolls in the first place.

It will have to be enforced by ANPR but there is also going to have to be a
mechanism for people to "automatically" pay without them having to have a
tag in the car.

They mentioned something about a single toll both remaining. Didn't catch
all of it though.

charge you automatically get registered for the Dartford crossing (and the
Severn crossing, the Humber bridge, Mersey tunnels, etc, etc), but it will
be ages before the various agencies can agree upon that.

IMO opinion all these agencies should be dissolved the tolls removed anyway.
Its amusing how they pretend they're doing us a favour by making it easier
to pay for something we shouldn't have to pay a toll for in the first place.

Personally, I think that "Europe" should get involved in developing a common

No thanks! They can keep their noses out of it.

billed in they own country by a local agency (who get to keep the money) and
many other countries do indeed do this for Brits (and others) using their

I've been done by a speed camera in france, haven't had a ticket yet. Got
a parking ticket in guernsey once , reminder turned up , I just ignored it
and never heard from them again. Perhaps I've just been lucky.

auto tolled roads, but HMG doesn't seem to be interested in doing this
(BICBW).

When half the foreign trucks seem to be registered in eastern europe these
days it would be a brave civil servant to try and enforce payment over there.

Perhaps we could start an online petition to ensure that whatever is done on
the Crossing foreigners don't "get away with it"!

I doubt the government cares so long as they can screw citizens over here for
even more tax money.

B2003

On 08/10/2012 11:29, d wrote:
On Mon, 8 Oct 2012 10:52:05 +0100

And the tunnel was paid for by central government as per the rest of the road
system and should never have had tolls in the first place.

The tunnels were neither built nor paid for by central government.

On Mon, 08 Oct 2012 12:09:54 +0100
Nick Finnigan wrote:
On 08/10/2012 11:29, d wrote:
On Mon, 8 Oct 2012 10:52:05 +0100

And the tunnel was paid for by central government as per the rest of the road
system and should never have had tolls in the first place.

The tunnels were neither built nor paid for by central government.

So who did pay for them in 1963? Private finance in the early 60s? Pretty
bloody unlikely.

B2003

In message , at 11:14:19 on Mon, 8 Oct
2012, d remarked:

So who did pay for them in 1963?

The two county councils.
--
Roland Perry

On Mon, 8 Oct 2012 13:47:36 +0100
Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 11:14:19 on Mon, 8 Oct
2012, d remarked:

So who did pay for them in 1963?

The two county councils.

Still government, not a private company.

B2003

In message , at 13:22:41 on Mon, 8 Oct
2012, d remarked:
So who did pay for them in 1963?

The two county councils.

Still government, not a private company.

Sure, local government. The bridge was built by a private company
though.
--
Roland Perry

On 08/10/2012 12:14, d wrote:
So who did pay for them in 1963? Private finance in the early 60s? Pretty
bloody unlikely.

They were paid for jointly by Essex and Kent County Councils (you
probably don't remember the good old days when County Councils did
useful things like that).

But it was explicitly promised at the time that when they tolls paid for
the cost of construction (and interest etc.) the tunnels would become
free of charge. I expect all those making the promises are now dead,
unfortunately.


--
Clive Page

In message , at 12:29:37 on Tue, 9 Oct
2012, Clive Page remarked:
They were paid for jointly by Essex and Kent County Councils (you
probably don't remember the good old days when County Councils did
useful things like that).

But it was explicitly promised at the time that when they tolls paid
for the cost of construction (and interest etc.) the tunnels would
become free of charge. I expect all those making the promises are now
dead, unfortunately.

In general I am also cynical, but in this case I don't think the County
Council project ever had a hope of breaking even, and had to be bailed
out. In which case, the original promise has little relevance.
--
Roland Perry

"Roland Perry" wrote in message
...
In message , at 12:29:37 on Tue, 9 Oct
2012, Clive Page remarked:
They were paid for jointly by Essex and Kent County Councils (you probably
don't remember the good old days when County Councils did useful things
like that).

But it was explicitly promised at the time that when they tolls paid for
the cost of construction (and interest etc.) the tunnels would become free
of charge. I expect all those making the promises are now dead,
unfortunately.

In general I am also cynical, but in this case I don't think the County
Council project ever had a hope of breaking even, and had to be bailed
out. In which case, the original promise has little relevance.

why would a county council scheme have significantly more chance of failing
than a commercial one?

tim

On 09/10/2012 17:27, tim..... wrote:

"Roland Perry" wrote in message
...
In message , at 12:29:37 on Tue, 9 Oct
2012, Clive Page remarked:
They were paid for jointly by Essex and Kent County Councils (you probably
don't remember the good old days when County Councils did useful things
like that).

But it was explicitly promised at the time that when they tolls paid for
the cost of construction (and interest etc.) the tunnels would become free
of charge. I expect all those making the promises are now dead,
unfortunately.

In general I am also cynical, but in this case I don't think the County
Council project ever had a hope of breaking even, and had to be bailed out.
In which case, the original promise has little relevance.

why would a county council scheme have significantly more chance of failing
than a commercial one?

It's the M25 which has made the Dartford Tunnel into big business.

Thirty and forty years ago it carried far less traffic.