Proposals to ban oversized and hazardous goods vehicles from the Dartford Tunnel have been condemned as impractical by haulage groups.

A campaign launched yesterday by freight boss Andrew Baxter called for certain lorries to be forced to go around the M25 to end delays caused by convoys which have to escort them from Kent to Essex.

He said the measure would remove two and a half hours of congestion from the route each day but the plan was described as “ridiculous” by colleagues in the industry.

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Highways England, which operates the crossing, said it does not think sending the lorries the other way around the M25 would be “an acceptable or practical solution”.

Phil Bartholomew runs his own haulage company in Tunstall, near Sittingbourne, which moves wide-loads like bulldozers, cabins and heavy plant machinery.

He said: “For us to go from Kent to Thurrock, which would normally take 45 minutes, would take us two hours.

“It would be a lot of cost and I don’t think there’s a lot of customers that would want to pay that.

“I can’t see that it would ever work. We cannot go the wrong way around the M25. It’s just going to kill the industry.

“If you’re putting another hour to an hour and a half on a journey, and there’s the possibility of getting caught up in traffic, I don’t think that’s viable.”

Lorry driver Richard Gaunt, who works for Maritime Logistics and lives in Stone, said the solution could be much simpler.

He said: “The problem lies with the ridiculous signage. There isn’t even a road sign that tells you you’re going to go through a tunnel.

“If you’re driving a double decker lorry, the confusing signs don’t say you have to be in lane three for the right-hand tunnel. It’s very easy to make a mistake.

“If the people who run the tunnel make a very simple and cheap alteration to the signage it could help relieve the problems you have from holding traffic up because a lorry is in the wrong lane.

“That should have been sorted out a long time ago.”

Some businesses welcomed the Stop the Convoys campaign proposed by Mr Baxter, who is managing director of Dartford logistics company Europa Worldwide.

Michael Bristow, managing director of Michael’s Bridal Fabrics in Northfleet, said: “It seems to be one of the more realistic suggestions.

“When there are problems we have delivery drivers late for collections and staff arrive at work late through no fault of their own.

“I can’t see why it shouldn’t be trialed.

“It may not be necessary to ban them 24 hours. It could be certain times like 6am to 11am and 3pm to 7pm which will still allow flexibility and reduce the amount of outcry from companies affected by it.”

Highways England’s South East regional director Simon Jones said the authority is “committed to improving journeys at the Dartford Crossing” and said the convoys keep the tunnel operating safely.

He added: “The crossing needs to accommodate all types of vehicle, and Mr Baxter’s suggestion to reroute all hazardous goods and oversized vehicles from the crossing has several issues which would make it hard to implement.

“While we are always open to feedback, we do not think that routing all restricted vehicles in the way Mr Baxter suggests would be an acceptable or practical solution, and we have met Mr Baxter previously to discuss these issues.

“We have however improved the operation of the crossing through a programme of measures recently to make journeys over the crossing more reliable for all road users.”