I used it at the weekend, Northbound on Friday and then Southbound yesterday.

I forgot to pay within 24 hours after Friday's crossing but I can't tell whether or not there's a penalty for not having done so (the signs all say to pay by midnight the following day, but not what the punishment is for not doing so).

I've just paid £5 for the two crossings but am I likely to receive a fine for not doing it in time? It doesn't say anything on their site about it.

There was a period of grace which I think has now officially ended but I did the same as you a few months ago, expected the worst, but nothing happened so I reckon you should be ok.

Communication about this is appalling. I was reminded to pay by a friend when it first went remote. Rubbish!

Thanks chaps.

I've paid for both journeys and have a receipt so hopefully there should be no comeback.

From what I can recall, there's no signage on the approach telling you what the charge is. And I seem to remember that most of the signs simply mention to "search for Dartford Crossing Charge" or something like that.

What if I don't have internet?

A friend of mine came through at the beginning of the year on his way to France skiing for the season and had no idea at all that it was happening and was not on the net in France .got a big fine as he did not reply and he is fighting it ..

The whole concept is wrong. If you're going to charge for a crossing (debatable in itself) on an automatic basis then you *must* have a channel available for casual users who aren't easily going to be able to pay.

Norway does it by requiring *everyone* to have a pre-paid account or a large fine follows you home, but they have toll roads of a few Krone every few kilometres.

In France, on the other hand, the challenge is to get *anywhere* without forking over the mortgage payment...