Dart Charge bosses dished out fines to 4,000 drivers every day in the first three months of the new Dartford Crossing payment system, cashing in on £637,825, it has been revealed.

New figures show the Highways Agency issued more than 350,000 penalty notices from November 30, when the changes were introduced, to March 4.

It means motorists could have forked out almost £25 million since Dart Charge was brought in to ease congestion at the crossing by removing the old toll booths.

But Highways Agency bosses have since confirmed the total amount received is fines is £637,825.

Drivers face a £70 fine if they fail to pay the charge but that can be halved if payment is received within two weeks of being issued.

However, teething problems with the system have come to light with more than 2,000 fines cancelled because cars were wrongly identified.

The information was revealed in a Freedom of Information Act request, submitted by one aggrieved driver who also launched a formal complaint.

"I go and see my mum as much as I can, but what am I supposed to do if they’re not going to let me use the crossing? She is quite old now..." - Driver Ray Hudson

The response reads: “We can confirm 354,920 PCNs have been issued during the period 30 November 2014 to 4 March 2015. Prior to this period a manual collection system was in place, which has been replaced by Dart Charge, the new charging regime.

“We can confirm that 2,024 PCNs have been cancelled following confirmation of the incorrect identification of the vehicle, which represents less than 1% of the total issued.”

Driver Ray Hudson was slapped with a £140 fine because the system failed to tell the difference between the letter ‘o’ and the number ‘0’ on his payment form.

The 56-year-old paid the toll in advance using PayZone system in a local newsagents but was shocked when he received two penalty notices a few weeks later.

The retired construction worker from Horley, Surrey, said: “It’s ridiculous. I am surely not the only person who writes an ‘o’ the same way as an ‘0’?

“There was nothing to say that I should clearly mark which were numbers and which were letters, I just wrote it down as I usually would.

“I go and see my mum as much as I can, but what am I supposed to do if they’re not going to let me use the crossing? She is quite old now.

“How am I supposed to see her quickly if something happens?”

A Highways England spokesperson said: "Journey times have improved since the introduction of Dart Charge by over nine minutes southbound and four minutes northbound with further improvements expected when roadworks are completed.

"The number of accounts, which can save drivers up to 1/3 per crossing, is nearly 700,000 and covers over 1.8m million vehicles."

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