More than a third of the £195.5 million income generated by the Dartford Crossing came from fines last year.

Highways England has revealed more than two million penalty charge notices demanding payments totalling £74m were issued to those travelling between Dartford and Thurrock.

This represented an increase of £8.3m on the previous year (£187.4m).

Profits increased by £7.4m with the Crossing generating net proceeds of £86.7m, compared to £79.3m the year prior.

It brings the operator's total profits to more than £300m since the tolls were scrapped five years ago and was the fifth year in a row profits had increased.

Had all fines been collected from the DartCharge, the government would have been set to pocket more than £74m last year.

All profits collected from the scheme go back to the Department for Transport, which then re-distributes funds via transport projects.

However, Highways England had to write off more than £30m as unrecoverable.

Another £9.7m was deducted from proceeds as 'movement in allowance for doubtful debt', which translates to outstanding PCNs the authority is still trying to chase.

And while compliance rates were up as a whole (94.8%), the number of foreign drivers avoiding payment was nearly one in five (80.8%).

This was a marked improvement on 2014 – when the tolls were first scrapped and the Dart Charge introduced – when it was 69.3%.

The summer months proved the busiest with more than 15 million journeys taken between July and September 2019.

Perhaps surprisingly for some 2019 marked the first year the number of crossings had reduced with 57.3m taking to the QEII Bridge or the tunnels, compared to 57.7m in 2018.

This comes despite a pledge to end the charge when the debt for the construction of the bridge was repaid 17 years ago.

The crossing was originally designed to carry up to 135,000 vehicles a day but in reality it regularly carries more than 180,000.

Last year, the government outlined its intentions for the fee to "remain in force indefinitely".

A contract worth up to £150m will hand over responsibility of nearly £200m worth of payments annually when the current one runs up later this year.

Collection of which has not been without controversy with one mum racking up £231 worth of fines and bailiffs threats last year following a suspected payment error.

A "second generation free-flow charging service solution" is expected to be in place within 18 months of the new contract start date.

If built, the £6.8 billion Lower Thames Crossing tunnel from Essex to Gravesend could help remove 14 million vehicles from the Dartford Crossing.

Read more: All the latest news from Dartford