The Dartford MP has warned someone is going to die unless changes at the crossing are made.

The announcement comes hot on the heels of last night's travel chaos (September 11) where thousands of people, including babies, were stranded for up to four hours after a power outage at the Dartford Crossing.

Gareth Johnson MP has urged the chief executive of Highways England and the government’s new Secretary of State for Transport, Chris Grayling, to make urgent contingency plans to stop the crossing's lengthy and dangerous traffic jams which occur almost on a daily basis. 

Mr Johnson’s biggest fear is that a vulnerable person is going to die while trapped in one of these gridlocks.

“Every few days people are getting stuck on the motorway, or on Dartford’s surrounding roads, due to a major incident at the crossing,” Mr Johnson said, “Highways England and I agree that trying to find a solution to this ongoing problem is ten years too late, nothing has been done for so long and now a major issue is an almost daily occurrence.

“We are now playing catch up.

“I have told Highways England people want action.

“We want to know what is being done to try and mitigate these problems.”

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The Dartford Crossing has become a nightmare for many drivers who are fed up with constant traffic problems

Over the weekend a power outage caused all the systems in the tunnel to stop working.

Highways England believes it would have been too dangerous to allow traffic to pass through.

It also admitted that it would be a struggle to find many improvements until a new crossing is built. 

In May more than 47,000 people took part in the lower Thames crossing consultation to decide on where a river crossing east of London should be built. 

It was the largest ever public consultation for a UK road project.

In 2014 two locations were shortlisted for a new bridge or tunnel, one near the existing Dartford Crossing, known as Option A, and the other linking the M2 with the M25 via the A13 near Gravesend called Option C.

The chief executive of Highways England believes the crossing should be east of Gravesend.

The location of the new crossing has split opinion across Kent with campaign groups, politicians and celebrities like Russell Brand getting involved in the debate. 

The results of the public consultation are expected to be announced later in the year.