Join the Bostik League in the campaign for a Lower Thames Crossing

The. Dartford. Crossing.

Three words which strike fear into the hearts of travelling clubs and their supporters across the Bostik League- and with good reason. We all have our Dartford Crossing horror stories, particularly if travelling between Kent and Essex- but it causes an impact for almost all of our clubs, often on a regular basis. From AFC Hornchurch to Worthing, from Bishop’s Stortford to Tonbridge Angels, getting across the Thames is a necessary evil- but evil nonetheless. How much additional time do you need to factor in when planning your journey? How many extra coach drivers do you need to pay for? How many hours of your life would you get back if there was a better way to travel?

Well there might be a better way in the future.

The Bostik League just have teamed up with Highways England to throw our weight behind the campaign for a Lower Thames Crossing. This is a proposed road and tunnel linking Essex and Kent, and if built it could benefit our clubs and supporters by improving the road network across Essex, Kent and South-East England. This would mean that we’d all be subject to fewer disruptions, closures and delays when travelling to games- as not only would this connect Kent and Essex but it would divert some of the traffic between the two counties AWAY from the Dartford Crossing, which would undoubtedly help clubs across the rest of the league, too.

We’d like you to get involved in this campaign from the comfort of your coach/car/train/plane by sharing photographs of your journeys to an away match via Twitter to @lowerthames and @IsthmianLeague, using the hashtags #BostikLeague, #NonLeagueFootball, #FootballAwayDays and #SouthEastFootball.

We’ll retweet your images, we’ll use them at isthmian.co.uk , and we’ll enter them all into a competition to win a family ticket to Non League Finals Day at Wembley Stadium on Sunday 19th May (terms and conditions can be found here. )And, hopefully, by raising awareness of the need for a Lower Thames Crossing, in the long run we’ll help make your travel far more enjoyable by ensuring you spend fewer hours listening to small children and adults who should know better utter the immortal line, “are we there yet?”

Visit the campaign website here, for more information and to watch a selection of videos featuring our Chairman, Nick Robinson, espouse the benefits of the Lower Thames Crossing.

Headline image from Stuart Tree.