Dartford MP Gareth Johnson has said he would support the government stopping payments to the company which runs Dart Charge following hundreds of complaints about the service.

The Dartford Crossing’s free-flow payment system has been widely criticised by its users and has already issued over 600,000 penalty charge notices, collected over £1 million in fines, and could pocket another £22.8 million from PCNs issued during its first six months.

Now Mr Johnson wants to cut off cash flow to Sanef, who operate the system from offices based in Leeds, until the system works correctly.

He said: “Since the Dart Charge system was introduced it has been woefully inadequate. I have had hundreds of people contact me who are deeply frustrated with the system.

“I have already called on the Department of Transport to withhold payments to Sanef, the company which operates Dart Charge, and I urge them again to do so.

"I don’t want to see any tolls on the crossing let alone a toll system that doesn’t work correctly. Motorists need to be able to trust the system and yet that is not currently the case.

“We are expecting to see some improvements to traffic on the M25 at the Dartford Crossing once the final toll booths are removed and work on the road is completed but there must be proper administration of the system and until that happens there should be financial penalties against Sanef.”

The director of Dartsave.co.uk – a firm set up to allow drivers more time to pay their toll – has also spoken of his “frustration” with the Dart Charge system.

Chris Billing recently appeared on BBC Radio 4 to discuss problems motorists were facing and called for the entire system to be scraped.

He said: “At Dartsave, we are constantly helping customers who’ve been mistreated by Dartcharge and are fed up with the ridiculous errors they are forced to endure.

"There needs to be a major reform of the system because the cost to motorists is completely ludicrous.”

Dart Charge project director Nigel Gray told the Messenger previously that he expects the system to improve now on-site web developers are stationed at the offices in Leeds, as the system was previously being worked on by IT workers in New York.