News, travel, weather and sport for Kent - plus your calls - and great music

BBC Radio Kent

BBC Radio Kent Breakfast

News, weather, travel and sport plus stories from around Kent.

BBC Radio Kent Breakfast: Dartford crossing users fall...but income rises

Dartford crossing users fall...but income rises

BBC Radio Kent - BBC Radio Kent Breakfast, Dartford crossing users fall...but income rises

John and Clare bring you the latest news, travel, and weather for Kent.

The number of drivers using the Dartford Tunnel has fallen by 3.5 million in the last year. Despite this, the income to the government from the crossing has continued to rise. 

Fewer than 51 million vehicles used the tunnel last year. Experts believe the recession has forced people to alter their driving habits, whilst unemployment and the increase in the toll prices in 2008 are also believed to be behind the drop.

Paul Watters from the AA and Steve Dawe from the Kent Green Party try to make sense of the figures (07.07) and John Burden, Leader of Gravesham Borough Council, where a proposed second Thames crossing would be built, offers his views on transport across the river through Kent (08.08).

Also on the programme, the widow of a former Kent painter and decorator who died of asbestos-related cancer is appealing to his former workmates from the 1970s and 1980s to come forward. 

68 year old Anita Jacobs wants to establish how her husband Ted came into contact with the deadly substance. She believes he'd worked with asbestos guttering and artex while employed by Swale Council.

Ted died less than a month after being diagnosed with mesothelioma in 2011. Swale Council have offered their sympathies but felt it inappropriate to comment.

Anita's solicitor Alice Humpreys from Irwin Mitchell talks John and Clare through the legal standing of a case like this (07.23) and Chatham MP Tracey Crouch explains how she has rebelled against her own government to secure extra legal help for mesothelioma victims (08.22).

And a Kent man says he is frustrated and dismayed that his hospital appointment was cancelled five times in six months.

73-year-old Anthony Phillips from Borough Green was due to undergo tests at the urology department at Maidstone Hospital, but it was repeatedly postponed.

Before each planned appointment he had to stop taking his medication, which left him in pain.

Managers, who have now apologised gave a mixture of excuses ranging from staff holidays to poor correspondence for the cancellations.

We hear his story at 06.40.

Julia George

Call 0800 756 1111, email julia@bbc.co.uk or text 81333 (start your message with KENT).

Join Julia George on BBC Radio Kent for challenging, topical conversation on the stories that you are talking about. 

The Big Phone-in starts at nine and continues throughout the morning, call 0800 756 1111, email julia@bbc.co.uk, text 81333 start your message with KENT.

Julia George: 21/08/2012

21/08/2012

BBC Radio Kent - Julia George, 21/08/2012

Emma B sits in with topical chat and your calls. Call 08459 811111.

Steve Ladner

Steve Ladner: 21/08/2012

BBC Radio Kent - Steve Ladner, 21/08/2012

Join Steve for great music for Kent's lunchtime.

Pat Marsh on BBC Radio Kent

Pat Marsh on BBC Radio Kent: 21/08/2012

BBC Radio Kent - Pat Marsh on BBC Radio Kent, 21/08/2012

Pat presents a special mix of music, fun, showbiz and entertainment.

Dominic King

Dominic King: 21/08/2012

BBC Radio Kent - Dominic King, 21/08/2012

Dominic brings you a round-up of local, national and international news.

Roger Day

Roger Day: 21/08/2012

BBC Radio Kent - Roger Day, 21/08/2012

The sounds of your life and talking to those who made them, plus jazz music from 9pm.

Paul Miller

Lively late-night chat and stories, all fuelled by your calls, texts, emails and tweets.

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BBC Radio Kent Breakfast

Dartford crossing users fall...but income rises

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Julia George

21/08/2012

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Steve Ladner

21/08/2012

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Pat Marsh on BBC Radio Kent

21/08/2012

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Dominic King

21/08/2012

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Roger Day

21/08/2012

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Paul Miller

21/08/2012

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As BBC Radio 5 live

22/08/2012

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