The Dartford Crossing has once again come under fire from a motorist hit with an unexpected penalty charge notice.

Catherine Kelly, 60, was travelling to Kent from Nord Pas-de-Calais in France to visit family and prepared for her trip by purchasing a road signs booklet from the UK government website.

“Being unfamiliar with south east England’s roads – and not wishing to fall foul of any law – I accessed the official UK government website,” she explained.

“On this site, the Department of Transport has for sale a booklet – Know Your Traffic Signs.”

The booklet cost £4.99 and is advertised as an official guide to Britain’s road signs, but was published in 2007 and does not contain up-to-date information regarding the Crossing’s new payment scheme.

Catherine was unaware of the book’s dated information and subsequently drove over the Thames without setting up a Dart Charge account.

“Dart Charge informed me that they know about this booklet but will carry on regardless,” said Catherine.

“We all have the right to expect any official government publication to be open, transparent, honest, current and up to date.

“Before this scheme went ahead the government and Dart Charge had a duty to ensure all relevant publications should either be withdrawn or updated.

Highways England: “Around 50 new signs were installed around the Crossing ahead of the launch of Dart Charge making it clear that the charge is in place and when it needs to be paid by."

“To have not done so is either incompetence beyond belief, or deliberate fraud.”

A Highways England spokesman said: “The Highway Code is clear that the red ‘C’ symbol means that you are entering a congestion charging zone.

“Around 50 new signs were installed around the Crossing ahead of the launch of Dart Charge making it clear that the charge is in place and when it needs to be paid by.”

The book is still available to purchase from the Department for Transport website.