A BUSINESSMAN has said the new Dartford Crossing tolls are costing him an extra £5,000 a year.

Mark Giles, owner of Abby Couriers, in Luckyn Lane, Basildon, said: “We work with quite small margins, so to recover the cost it would mean genarating around £50,000 in business.

“The Government has taken 2.5 per cent off VAT, but replaced that with fuel excise, so where we could have claimed that 2.5 per cent back we can’t now.”

Paul Malley, a spokes-man for the Department for Transport, said: “The new charging structure is part of a wider package which will see removal of the charges at night when traffic is lighter, and incentives to pay using alternatives to cash.”