What the Dartford
Crossing actually costs.
A plain-English guide to Dart Charge for the people who drive the M25 every day. Pick your vehicle, get the right price, learn how to pay before midnight tomorrow.
Pay-as-you-go
£3.50
per crossing
Pre-pay
£2.80
20% off, set & forget
Free window
10pm-6am
every day, all year
Cars, campervans and minibuses up to 9 seats.
Standard car
£3.50
up 40% in Sep 2025
Free hours
10pm-6am
every day
Late payment fine
£70
reduced to £35 in 14 days
Daily traffic
150,000+
vehicles per day
There are no toll booths. The cameras catch you.
Dart Charge replaced the old barriers in 2014. ANPR cameras read your number plate as you drive through and you must pay online, by phone, in a Payzone shop or through the app by midnight the day after you cross. Miss that and a £70 fine follows in the post. The simplest fix is a pre-pay account that deducts the charge automatically.
2026 Dart Charge prices, by vehicle
Source: gov.uk/pay-dartford-crossing-charge/charges. Prices effective from 1 September 2025.
| Vehicle class | Description | Pay-as-you-go | Pre-pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| Motorcycle (Class A) | All motorcycles, mopeds, scooters and quad bikes | Free | Free |
| Car (Class B) | Cars, motorhomes, minibuses with 9 or fewer seats | £3.50 | £2.80 |
| Van (Class B) | Light goods up to 3.5 tonnes (charged at the car rate) | £3.50 | £2.80 |
| 2-axle goods (Class C) | Vans and small lorries over 3.5 tonnes, 2 axles | £4.20 | £3.60 |
| Multi-axle HGV (Class D) | Articulated lorries, 3+ axles | £8.40 | £7.20 |
| Disability tax exempt | Vehicles in the Disabled Tax Class (must register) | Free | Free |
What it costs you over a year
Move the slider. The calculator works out your annual bill at each rate.
Pay-as-you-go
£910
per year
With pre-pay account
£728
Save £182/yr
Local resident pass
£25
Save £885/yr if eligible
Working: 5 crossings/week × 52 weeks. Pass option only available to Dartford and Thurrock residents. Eligibility details.
The payment timeline
Five things happen if you cross and don't pay. Each step has a deadline. The earlier you act, the cheaper it stays.
- 1£3.50
Cross
Pay any time on the day or up to 24h before
- 2£3.50
By midnight tomorrow
Final payment deadline. Online, app or Payzone
- 3£35
PCN within 14 days
Reduced rate if you act fast
- 4£70
Full PCN
Within 28 days of receiving the notice
- 5£105+
Charge certificate
Then court costs and bailiff fees on top
See fines and how to appeal for grounds, postal address and the Traffic Penalty Tribunal route.
Sort it out, page by page
Eight focused guides for the most common Dart Charge tasks. Pick the one that fits.
How to pay
Four payment methods ranked, with the deadline window explained.
Pre-pay account
When the £15 deposit is worth it. Plus the £25/year resident pass.
Forgot to pay
Decision tree for what to do right now, ranked by how late you are.
Fines & appeals
PCN amounts, grounds for a successful challenge, postal address.
Vans, HGVs & fleets
Class B, C and D pricing. Up to 20 vehicles per pre-pay account.
Free hours & traffic
Free 10pm to 6am. Tunnel northbound, bridge southbound, height limits.
Dart Charge app
The official iOS/Android app, plus the Caura third-party alternative.
Alternative routes
Blackwall, Silvertown and the Lower Thames Crossing timeline.
2026 reference and the September 2025 increase
The current 2026 prices are the rates set on 1 September 2025. Three pages anchor the year-stamped story.
2026 cost by vehicle type
Six dedicated pages for the most common vehicles, each covering the class boundary, the year cost at typical frequencies, and any direction-specific rules.
2026 cost by payment method
Four ways to pay an upcoming or recent crossing, plus two account-funding flows. Each rate is the same; only the experience changes.
Auto-pay (pre-pay account)
£15 deposit, automatic per-crossing deduction.
Direct Debit setup
Top-up trigger at £10. Change of bank.
Pay by phone
0300 300 0120, 24/7 automated.
Pay at Payzone
Cash and card in convenience stores.
Pay by post
PCN-only. PO Box 842, Leeds.
Skip the crossing
Honest cost-vs-time of every alternative.
By commuter pattern and resident postcode
The annual maths varies by how often you cross and where you live. Five scenario pages.
Daily commuter
5 days a week, full annual breakdown.
Weekly commuter
2-4 days a week hybrid pattern.
Dartford resident pass
DA postcodes, £25/yr unlimited.
Thurrock resident pass
RM postcodes, same £25/yr.
M25 J31 toll (northbound)
Thurrock approach to the tunnels.
M25 J1A toll (southbound)
Dartford approach to the bridge.
A282 toll
Same charge by its road-number name.
When it's free
- 10pm-6am Every night, every day of the year.
- Bikes Motorcycles and mopeds, no registration required.
- Disabled Vehicles in the Disabled Tax Class (must register with Dart Charge).
- Christmas Yes, free between 10pm and 6am on Christmas Day too.
Tunnel or bridge?
The Dartford Crossing is one charge, two routes:
- Northbound (Kent to Essex): two 1960s and 1980 bored tunnels. Height limit 4.88m.
- Southbound (Essex to Kent): the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, opened 1991.
- Vehicles over 4.88m use the bridge in both directions via diversion.
Common questions
How much does the Dartford Crossing cost in 2026?+
Cars pay £3.50 pay-as-you-go or £2.80 with a pre-pay account. Two-axle goods vehicles over 3.5 tonnes pay £4.20 (or £3.60 pre-pay). Multi-axle HGVs pay £8.40 (or £7.20 pre-pay). Motorcycles cross free. These rates have applied since 1 September 2025, when Dart Charge raised prices by 40%.
Is the Dartford Crossing free at night?+
Yes. Crossings between 10pm and 6am are free, every day, including weekends and bank holidays. The cameras still record your vehicle but no charge is generated.
What happens if I forget to pay?+
You have until midnight the day after crossing. Miss that deadline and a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) of £70 follows by post. Pay within 14 days and it drops to £35. After 28 days it rises to £105, then climbs further once the debt is registered at the Traffic Enforcement Centre and court costs and bailiff fees are added.
How do I pay the Dart Charge?+
Online at gov.uk/pay-dartford-crossing-charge, by phone on 0300 300 0120, at any Payzone retailer, or through the official Dart Charge app. You can pay up to 24 hours before crossing or any time on the day of, and you must pay by 11:59pm the next day.
What the Dartford Crossing is, in 2026
The Dartford Crossing connects junction 1a of the M25 in Dartford (Kent) with junction 31 in Thurrock (Essex). It is the only road crossing of the Thames east of London, and it carries roughly 150,000 vehicles a day, well above the 135,000 it was designed for. Two tunnels handle northbound traffic; the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge handles southbound. Together they form a single tolled facility called Dart Charge.
The charge itself is a free-flow ANPR system, so there are no barriers and no booths. That makes the crossing faster than the old toll plazas, but it puts the responsibility for paying onto you. The window is short: pay by midnight the day after you cross, or a Penalty Charge Notice will follow.
On 1 September 2025, the rates rose by 40 per cent across every vehicle class. A car went from £2.50 to £3.50 pay-as-you-go, and from £2.00 to £2.80 on a pre-pay account. A 2-axle goods vehicle went from £3.00 to £4.20. A multi-axle HGV went from £6.00 to £8.40. The local resident pass climbed from £20 to £25 a year. Many older write-ups still quote the pre-2025 figures, so always cross-check against gov.uk before paying or budgeting.
For occasional users, the cheapest fix is to pay the same day on the official site. For commuters, a pre-pay account saves 70p per crossing and removes the risk of forgetting. For Dartford and Thurrock residents, the £25/year unlimited pass beats both options at any frequency.
Looking further out, construction on the Lower Thames Crossing began in March 2026. It will not open until the early 2030s, so for now the Dartford Crossing remains the only practical eastern route across the Thames.
Oliver Wakefield-Smith
Founder, Digital Signet
Independent reference for Dart Charge prices and routing, sourced from gov.uk and updated against announced National Highways tariff changes.
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