New river crossings in East London could help ease congestion in Dartford.

Transport for London and the capital’s mayor Boris Johnson have carried out consultations on proposals for crossings at Gallions Reach and Belvedere, with Dartford council expected to back the move at a cabinet meeting on Thursday.

An advisory panel have met at the town’s civic centre, where it was suggested that these new routes would provide “a more direct route for traffic which currently uses the Dartford Crossing”.

Dartford council’s head of regeneration, Teresa Ryszkowska, said: “The crossings would have a largely positive impact on the roads in Dartford.

“The recommendation is that the two crossings are supported by the council for the benefits that they would bring.”

As well as easing the burden of traffic in and around Dartford, councillors believe the local air quality would also improve.

The proposed Belvedere Bridge in particular is considered an attractive alternate route for traffic coming towards Dartford from the west.

Labour leader Jonathon Hawkes backed the plans but remains concerned about the impending decision on whether a new Lower Thames Crossing will be built in Dartford or Gravesham.

“This is another good example as to why the government needs to pull its finger out and make a decision.

“All the time we have debated over the location of the Lower Thames Crossing it limits our ability to make the right decisions.

“I do not think the council have done enough. I fear that Gravesham have done a better of job and I am worried that the crossing will end up here.”

The news comes as motorists report yet more problems with Highways England’s much maligned Dart Charge scheme.

The Messenger revealed last week that several drivers had been wrongly hit with penalty charge notices over Christmas.

Several similar complaints have emerged since then, with fines of up to £75 issued to accounts incorrectly rendered inactive.

Edmond Jackson said: “It appears accounts are disabled exactly 12 months after opening if they have not been topped up within this period.

“This is now catching people who opened accounts for the convenience of automatic debiting, but haven’t used the crossing as much as anticipated and have plenty of funds remaining.

“An irony is that the Terms & Conditions stipulate that you must only keep sufficient money in your account that corresponds with your crossing habits.

“The ‘inactive account’ e-mail I received is illogical and fails to warn that the account has been de-activated for crossing payments.”

Sarah Hawes was also on the end of a Dart Charge admin error - she was warned that her account faced expiration despite being used just days beforehand.

“We used the crossing on January 1, then a few days later we got a notice saying the account had been inactive,” she said.

“We have also used it a few other times over the last few months.

“When I called, they said it was an error email sent to lots of Dartford residents.”

Highways England said that both issues were errors and apologised.

“These were both errors and we will contact the customers to apologise and confirm that their accounts are fully operational," said a spokesman.

"In Mr Jackson’s case we will cancel the PCN he received.

“We have now changed our systems to prevent accounts automatically closing if crossings have not been made within a year.

"Unfortunately in both these cases the errors were made before the system changes had been fully implemented.”