Asked by: Michael Fallon (Conservative - Sevenoaks)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential increase in HGV traffic at the port of Dover in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
DfT, alongside other government departments, continues to keep no deal planning assumptions up to date, including those relating to HGV traffic around the port of Dover. Planning assumptions have been shared with relevant stakeholders, such as the Kent Resilience Forum.
Our assessment considers the extent to which new border processes, and the readiness of businesses to comply with these, could constrain flow on crossings from the port of Dover and the Channel Tunnel to France, and the implications for queueing HGV traffic approaching the port and Channel Tunnel terminal.
Asked by: Michael Fallon (Conservative - Sevenoaks)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department plans to review the affordability of the Dart Charge.
Answered by George Freeman
The Department for Transport has no plans to review the affordability of the Dart Charge. The current charges for the Dartford-Thurrock Crossing were set in 2014, following an impact assessment, which took account of benefits and disadvantages to business and personal users, prior to a public consultation. The charges exist to manage demand and congestion at the Crossing
The charge levels and concessions available take account of local people’s need to use the Crossing. Residents of the Boroughs of Dartford and Thurrock can pay £10 for 50 crossings, plus 20p for each additional crossing or £20 a year for unlimited use. Disabled users who are exempt from vehicle tax are also exempt from paying the Dart Charge, if they are using the same vehicle. Any Crossing user can set up an account that will allow automatic payment for each trip and a prepaid account also offers users a discount of up to 20 per cent.
Asked by: Michael Fallon (Conservative - Sevenoaks)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of infrastructure works on the (a) M20 contraflow and (b) M26 alterations in 2019.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Preparatory infrastructure works have been conducted by Highways England on the M20 and M26 in Kent as part of contingency traffic management measures, known as Operation Brock. Operation Brock has been designed to ensure that, unlike Operation Stack, the M20 will be kept open and traffic will continue to flow in both directions at times of cross-Channel disruption. As part of this, implementing the contraflow queuing system between Junctions 8 and 9 on the M20 will cost approximately £30 million to build and operate. The works to prepare the M26 for the potential use as a temporary HGV storage area are in the region of £5 million. The costs of these works will fall within the financial year 2018/19.
Asked by: Michael Fallon (Conservative - Sevenoaks)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the ability of GTR to introduce a fast train service from Maidstone East to London in December 2019.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The Department is committed to improving regular services between Maidstone and the City as soon as possible. The industry is currently finalising the May 2019 timetable before developing further changes, with the next being in December 2019. I will provide an update in advance of December 2019 once these changes have been finalised.
Asked by: Michael Fallon (Conservative - Sevenoaks)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment his Department has made of the merits of extending Crossrail to Ebbsfleet.
Answered by Andrew Jones
At this crucial stage of the Crossrail project, it is essential that Government remains focused on the full delivery of the current agreed scheme as its priority.
The promoters of the Crossrail to Ebbsfleet scheme have recently submitted a Strategic Outline Business Case to Government which is being considered. Any extension to the Elizabeth line would require a strong business case with a detailed evidence base that demonstrates the scheme would be both technically feasible and offer value for money, and also include the identification of funding.
Asked by: Michael Fallon (Conservative - Sevenoaks)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans his Department has to introduce mandatory disability equality training for taxi drivers.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
Taxis and private hire vehicles (PHVs) provide a vital service for many disabled people. However, as of March last year, only 38% of licensing authorities required drivers to complete disability awareness and equality training; I would urge the remainder to use their existing licensing powers to ensure that all taxi and PHV drivers have the knowledge and skills necessary to provide every passenger with the assistance they require.
This year we intend to consult on revised best practice guidance for taxi and PHV licensing authorities which will recommend that authorities require drivers to complete disability awareness and equality training and take robust action against those found to have discriminated against disabled passengers.
Ministers are also considering the recommendations made in the report of the Chair of the Task and Finish Group on Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Licensing, including the introduction of mandatory disability equality and awareness training. A Government response will be issued in due course.
Asked by: Michael Fallon (Conservative - Sevenoaks)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent estimate he has made of the number of HGVs that can be accommodated on a temporary basis on the M26.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Department is working with Highways England and other key stakeholders to finalise the Operation Brock plans. Operation Brock consists of three phases, involving a contraflow queuing system on the M20, and holding areas at Manston Airport and finally, and only if necessary, on the M26.
The initial assessment made by Highways England is that the M26 could potentially accommodate up to 2300 HGVs if all running lanes on both carriageways were utilised, subject to the necessary health and safety risk assessments.
Asked by: Michael Fallon (Conservative - Sevenoaks)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many Dart Charge payments were (a) late and (b) not paid since 2010.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Dart Charge free flow system is a prepayment system, but with users given until midnight the day after the crossing was made to make a payment without penalty. 95% of users of the Dartford Crossing pay in compliance with these charging rules and the 5% who do not are sent a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN). There is no category of ‘late payment’.
The number of UK PCNs issued since the introduction of the free flow charging scheme is as follows:
2015 - 2,106,748
2016 - 2,051,013
2017 - 1,869,800
2018 (up until 30/11/2018) - 2,014,737
Highways England pursue PCN cases vigorously, with 75 per cent of these paid following enforcement processes.
Asked by: Michael Fallon (Conservative - Sevenoaks)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what is the current average (a) waiting time and (b) crossing time for cars using the Dartford crossing.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Highways England do not hold data for average waiting times for cars using the Dartford Crossing. The Dartford Crossing was designed to be a Free Flow Crossing without toll booths.
With regard to average crossing times, the table below contains the available average all-day journey time data for the northbound route from M25 Junction 2 to M25 Junction 30 including the Dartford Thurrock Crossing. This data has been collected by Highways England and processed on a consistent and comparable basis since June 2018. With regard to data collected from 2014 to June 2018, I refer my Rt Hon. Friend to the answer I gave on 7 November 2018 to Commons Question 185533.
Average Journey Time, Dartford Crossing Northbound (M25 J2 - J30), July 2018 – Sept 2018
Time period (month-year) | Average journey time (minutes: seconds) |
Jul-18 | 10.16 |
Aug-18 | 10.13 |
Sep-18 | 08:51 |
The table below contains the available average all-day journey time data for the southbound route from M25 Junction 29 to M25 Junction 1b including the Dartford Thurrock Crossing. This data has been collected and processed on a consistent and comparable basis since 2014.
Average Journey Time, Dartford Crossing Southbound (M25 J29 – J1b), 2014-18
Time period (month-year) | Average journey time | Time period (month-year) | Average journey time |
Jan-14 | 11:32 | Jan-17 | 10:58 |
Feb-14 | 13:25 | Feb-17 | 11:33 |
Mar-14 | 12:47 | Mar-17 | 10:52 |
Apr-14 | 17:04 | Apr-17 | 10:19 |
May-14 | 17:08 | May-17 | 10:31 |
Jun-14 | 17:04 | Jun-17 | 11:00 |
Jul-14 | 21:53 | Jul-17 | 10:53 |
Aug-14 | 21:44 | Aug-17 | 11:13 |
Sep-14 | 15:36 | Sep-17 | 10:57 |
Oct-14 | 19:21 | Oct-17 | 11:38 |
Nov-14 | 17:26 | Nov-17 | 11:45 |
Dec-14 | 10:47 | Dec-17 | 11:22 |
Jan-15 | 10:17 | Jan-18 | 10:58 |
Feb-15 | 10:25 | Feb-18 | 11:41 |
Mar-15 | 10:54 | Mar-18 | 12:18 |
Apr-15 | 10:34 | Apr-18 | 10:42 |
May-15 | 11:11 | May-18 | 10:46 |
Jun-15 | 11:20 | Jun-18 | 10:41 |
Jul-15 | 11:28 | Jul-18 | 11:32 |
Aug-15 | 10:25 | Aug-18 | 11:20 |
Sep-15 | 10:16 | Sep-18 | 10:48 |
Oct-15 | 10:54 | ||
Nov-15 | 11:11 | ||
Dec-15 | 11:23 | ||
Jan-16 | 11:59 | ||
Feb-16 | 13:16 | ||
Mar-16 | 12:27 | ||
Apr-16 | 12:31 | ||
May-16 | 12:21 | ||
Jun-16 | 11:32 | ||
Jul-16 | 12:08 | ||
Aug-16 | 12:33 | ||
Sep-16 | 11:37 | ||
Oct-16 | 12:15 | ||
Nov-16 | 13:09 | ||
Dec-16 | 11:29 |
Asked by: Michael Fallon (Conservative - Sevenoaks)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment his Department has made of the environmental effect of the current volume of traffic at the Dartford crossing.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Along with Dartford Borough Council and Thurrock Council, Highways England maintains air quality monitoring units near the Dartford Crossing and monitors the effect of traffic volumes.
In response to concerns about air quality at the Crossing, Highways England are currently investigating options for improving air quality on the A282 approach to the Crossing.