NEW figures have shown that the Dartford crossing netted more than £215 million over the past year, making it a money spinner for the government that brings in more than twice any other toll road in the country.

The next biggest road cash generator is the optional M6 toll in the West Midlands which netted £107,897,000 a figure dwarfed by the crossing take of £215,900,000.

There are seven other toll roads that net more than a million, but the crossing takes almost double the amount they take when added together.

Historically the Dartford crossing was originally a one bore tunnel, opened in 1963 at a cost of £13 million (equivalent to £307m today) and it initially served approximately 12,000 vehicles per day. The cost to cross was originally two shillings and sixpence, equivalent to 12.5p at the time and £3 today.

It was projected to have two million users a year but by 1970 it was carrying more than eight million, and rising traffic levels required a second tunnel to be built. It opened in May 1980, allowing each tunnel to handle one direction of traffic, by which time the joint capacity of the two tunnels had increased to 65,000 vehicles per day.

Connection of the crossing to the M25 was completed on the Thurrock side in September 1982 (Junction 31), and to Kent side in September 1986 by which time daily demand had grown to 79,000 vehicles and projections of further increases prompted construction of a road bridge.

When the QEII Bridge opened in 1991 to meet the ever-growing demand, the government pledged that once the cost of its construction was met, the crossing would become toll free.

The bridge was built by the privately-financed Dartford Rover Crossing at a cost at the time of £120 million (£268m today).

The cost of financing its built was covered after 12 years and it was anticipated that tolls would be removed on 1 April 2003 as agreed in the  original private finance contract. However, the government decided that the tolls would become a "charge" and they have pocketed the profits since.

It is now one of Europe's busiest river crossings with an average 160,000 crossings a day, with charges levied from a local discount scheme rate of 10p to £2.50 for cars and charges up to £6 for lorries. Charges are levied between 6am and 10pm.

The UK's 10 highest-earning toll roads: 

The data in this table is accurate as of August 2024. Figures provided by Moneybarn Car Finance.

Rank

Toll road

Location

Revenue