The government has written off tens of millions of pounds in Dartford Crossing fines last year, figures show.

The Department of Transport failed to collect about £32.5m in fines issued to people who did not pay the Dart Charge.

The sum refers to tolls the government from motorists, which has been partly because of the number-plate recognition equipment not being up to scratch, it is claimed.

By July, there had already been 27,595,599 crossings between Dartford and Thurrock this year.

Figures also show that between May 2016 to May of this year, 437,304 unpaid crossings were sent to European debt recovery agents.

These new figures of written-off fines come as part of a list of expenses from Whitehall that have arisen as a result of error and it shows that ministers and officials have been wasting more than £4.6million of taxpayers’ money every day.

Over a year, £1.7 billion was squandered on botched projects, accounting mistakes, faulty overtime payments and compensation payouts.

The figures, reported by the Daily Mail, mean the equivalent of £54 a second was wasted - enough to train 100,000 nurses, pay the wages of 91,000 soldiers or recruit 87,700 police officers.