UK dodges fines but takes it toll

I am driving from France to the UK for the first time for many years.

My journey will involve crossing the Thames on the M25 via the Dartford tunnel and the Queen Elizabeth bridge the other way.

I checked the toll price and was shocked to discover that from November 30, there will no longer be a facility to pay in cash or credit card at a toll booth, you will have to pay via mobile phone or online.

I do not have a mobile phone and am not sure just what access I will have to a computer prior to and immediately after the crossing. There will be cameras to read numberplates and failure to pay the toll will result in debt collectors chasing the fee, presumably in addition theirs also.

For a country that has opted out of the EU cross border fines scheme, how they can have the audacity to install a system with no easy facility for non-UK residents to pay, then threaten them with debt collectors?

Jeremy THORNTON, by email