Are they on a go slow?.We all know that a lot of the toll booth operators are being made redundant very soon.So
as a last stand are they on a go slow the barriers seem to take much longer to go up at this moment .The queue
seems to be from one side of bridge to other side all the time .
I had wondered this too. Been an absolute nightmare for the last couple of months.
I was in the queue northbound Friday of last week, the traffic was really slow from the A20 through to the tunnel. I paid my fiver and was told by the toll booth girl, ‘We have just got to hold the traffic for a few seconds while the tunnel clears’ and sit there we did for just 25 seconds then they let us all go. I wondered how many times that takes place in a day?
On Friday it took me 4 hours to get from Croydon to the Dartford tunnel.
It took me 7 hours of driving and 2 x 45 mins breaks to get from Croydon back to our yard in Lincolnshire.
The traffic hold ups are horrendous!
NewLad:
On Friday it took me 4 hours to get from Croydon to the Dartford tunnel.It took me 7 hours of driving and 2 x 45 mins breaks to get from Croydon back to our yard in Lincolnshire.
The traffic hold ups are horrendous!
That’s becoming the norm on a Friday afternoon. Almost all of the M25 is at a crawl. What is normally a 1h 20 journey for me takes 3h 30.
I only go 7 junctions!
I don’t do london any more, hurray!!!
The only logical reason to make tollbooth staff redundant - is if they are about to make the entire damned thing FREE. 
Winseer:
The only logical reason to make tollbooth staff redundant - is if they are about to make the entire damned thing FREE.
Or they’re about to get rid of the tollbooths and replace them with ANPR cameras that will charge the registered keepers by account/mail. Win win situation for the operators, less overheads and still the same revenue stream.
Being somewhat cynical of any government motives, I wonder if the current delays are being engineered do that when it all changes in October we all say ‘what a brilliant system, should have been done before etc etc’ rather than all complain about the price rise?
m1cks:
Winseer:
The only logical reason to make tollbooth staff redundant - is if they are about to make the entire damned thing FREE.Or they’re about to get rid of the tollbooths and replace them with ANPR cameras that will charge the registered keepers by account/mail. Win win situation for the operators, less overheads and still the same revenue stream.
That is exactly what they are doing so get ready for months of roadworks while they change the approaches and get rid of the toll booths. They are starting the construction work in October and finish by “spring” next year.
I knew 
it was in reply to Winseer thinking it would be made free.
Is this why every night I’m sat in traffic for up to an hour to cross the [zb]ing bridge 
scaniason:
Being somewhat cynical of any government motives, I wonder if the current delays are being engineered do that when it all changes in October we all say ‘what a brilliant system, should have been done before etc etc’ rather than all complain about the price rise?
+1
Spot on. Nail hit squarely on the head.
‘oh no we would never do something like that’. Lying bar stewards, die tomorrow!
wheelnutt:
m1cks:
Winseer:
The only logical reason to make tollbooth staff redundant - is if they are about to make the entire damned thing FREE.Or they’re about to get rid of the tollbooths and replace them with ANPR cameras that will charge the registered keepers by account/mail. Win win situation for the operators, less overheads and still the same revenue stream.
That is exactly what they are doing so get ready for months of roadworks while they change the approaches and get rid of the toll booths. They are starting the construction work in October and finish by “spring” next year.
They started months ago and the booths will be gone by October will take till spring to finish bringing it and the slip roads into the four lanes either way
chester1:
wheelnutt:
m1cks:
Winseer:
The only logical reason to make tollbooth staff redundant - is if they are about to make the entire damned thing FREE.Or they’re about to get rid of the tollbooths and replace them with ANPR cameras that will charge the registered keepers by account/mail. Win win situation for the operators, less overheads and still the same revenue stream.
That is exactly what they are doing so get ready for months of roadworks while they change the approaches and get rid of the toll booths. They are starting the construction work in October and finish by “spring” next year.
They started months ago and the booths will be gone by October will take till spring to finish bringing it and the slip roads into the four lanes either way
Not quite, they are only doing prep work and gantry installation now, they will start removing the booths in October with the change of approaches on both end, that work will finish next year. The only roadworks we have had so far is the overnight closures and installation of the prep work, the roadworks will be permanent starting this October, that’s when the real delays start.
Remote pay will start this October, same as the CC, however the physical removal will only then get started.
Not being an expert in this, but surely you’d remove the barriers at half of the booths overnight, chuck the traffic though those lanes at a slowish speed (but not having to stop), whilst you remove totally the other booths, then move traffic over whilst you take the other booths out and rejigger the road. Surely that would improve the flow straight away, as you wouldn’t have to stop and wait whilst mrs mugging fumbles through her loose change ?
scaniason:
Not being an expert in this, but surely you’d remove the barriers at half of the booths overnight, chuck the traffic though those lanes at a slowish speed (but not having to stop), whilst you remove totally the other booths, then move traffic over whilst you take the other booths out and rejigger the road. Surely that would improve the flow straight away, as you wouldn’t have to stop and wait whilst mrs mugging fumbles through her loose change ?
Thinking like that at the HA would see u shot and then buried in the roadworks on the m6.
scaniason:
Not being an expert in this, but surely you’d remove the barriers at half of the booths overnight, chuck the traffic though those lanes at a slowish speed (but not having to stop), whilst you remove totally the other booths, then move traffic over whilst you take the other booths out and rejigger the road. Surely that would improve the flow straight away, as you wouldn’t have to stop and wait whilst mrs mugging fumbles through her loose change ?
The problem is the booths can’t just be made to disappear over the course of one night. There’ll be reinforced concrete/steel to protect the booth operator, all the electrical wiring, the overhead gantry and signs etc, etc.
I didn’t mean the booths, just take the barrier arms off the mechanism, then just let the traffic through at s slow pace whilst you remove the other half of the booths, which can be done behind barriers etc
They won’t for the same reason they keep the barriers operating overnight even though it’s free.
Remove the barriers and people will not slow. They’ll be the inevitable muppet who cannot drive through a space at speed without hitting each side like a ping pong ball but they believe they can.