A song complaining about the removal of tollbooths at the Dartford Crossing last year has attracted nearly one million views.
The tollbooths were taken away and replaced with an automatic vehicle registration system in 2015 in a bid to cut the congestion at the busy spot. However, the move has been a bit of a failure.
Indeed, the UK’s Freight Transport Association (FTA) last month said foreign freight companies including those importing from China are enjoying an unfair advantage over British ones, as nearly a quarter are not paying the charges.
FTA head of policy for London and the south-east Natalie Chapman recently said: “All vehicles, wherever they are based, should be paying the charge and should be pursued for non-payment. Otherwise, what starts off as a relatively small problem of non-compliance can quickly grow into a big problem and that creates an uneven playing field for UK operators.”
So many people have been angered about the decision to remove the tollbooths and the subsequent traffic problems that have occurred at the Dartford Crossing that a rude Christmas song has been released by Southend News Network.
Last week (October 28th), it published the tune on its Facebook page and has since had 954,000 views and nearly 16,000 shares.
It is believed the combination of the huge number of cars who use the crossing, confused drivers who do not understand the new system, power outages in the tunnel, and failure to register number plates has led to congestion worsening since the booths are removed, often turning the road into gridlock at peak travelling times.