With back-to-back lockdowns and a recurring stay at home message there was even less reason to be rushing out onto the roads last year.

But that doesn't appear to be the case at the Dartford Crossing which has been named the most dangerous road for speeding in 2020.

Dartford Labour councillor Kelly Grehan

A Freedom of Information request sent to police forces across the nation found that 167,448 speeding crimes were committed on the top 10 most dangerous roads alone last year. Earning the unwanted title of most dangerous road was the A282, connecting Kent and Essex via the M25.

The busy stretch, which includes the Dartford Crossing, clocked up 26,920 speeding offences last year, beating Surrey's section of the M25, where 23,558 offences were registered.

The data was collated by car rental service Wessex Fleet which contacted all 45 police forces in the UK and filtered each by the 10 roads with the most cases of speeding, totalling 699,517 instances.

Of these, Kent ranked third for the most dangerous areas for speeding with 59,017 offences, behind only Avon and Somerset (60,000) and Greater London (88,481).

Elsewhere, more than half of the safest areas are governed by northern police forces, while Dyfed and Powys in Wales recorded the lowest (298).

The Dartford Crossing was designed to handle up to 135,000 vehicle movements each day, but currently it is not uncommon for it to see more than 180,000.

There are often delays at the tunnel due to crashes.

Stone House Councillor Kelly Grehan (Lab) has received numerous requests from local residents to install speed cameras.

But she added that when asked for, they have been refused owing to "ridiculous" rules.

She told KMTV: "Without a doubt there is a speeding problem throughout Dartford but particularly on the roads that neighbour the crossing.

"Anything we can do to stop it needs to be done."

"We've seen quite a number of children hit on residential streets in recent years by people speeding so you only need one person speeding to cause a casualty or a fatality.

"Anything we can do to stop it needs to be done."

In 2014, the toll booths were scrapped in a move to ease congestion and alleviate heavy traffic flows at peak times.

They were replaced with an online Dart Charge service.

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

The charges have not been without controversy with some drivers racking up hundreds of pounds' worth of fines amid frustrations over technical errors with collecting payments.

Last week, Homes Under the Hammer star Lucy Alexander fell foul of the free-flow charging regime.

She tweeted: “Just opened post. Final reminder. £215 Dart Charge!!!!! Hating myself.”

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