Motorists could face increase in Mersey Tunnel tolls (From Wirral Globe)
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Motorists could face increase in Mersey Tunnel tolls
1:33pm Thursday 3rd January 2013 in News By Craig Manning
Motorists could face increase in Mersey Tunnel tolls
MOTORISTS could be hit with an increase in Mersey tunnel tolls in April.
Merseyside's Integrated Transport Authority will decide on whether to raise the cost during its budget meeting on February 7.
It follows publication of a Merseytravel report which says the authority would miss out on generating an additional £2.6m unless it agrees a rise.
The current cost is £1.50 per car but this could rise by 10p, an increase of 7%.
The last time tolls went up was in April of 2011 and they were frozen until the end of 2012 John McGoldrick, secretary of protest group Mersey Tunnel Users' Association, said any increase would be unwarranted.
He said: "There is no justification for increasing tunnel tolls and as times goes on it seems very likely that they could rise. Increases are bad news for motorists and businesses.
"Hopefully, when the board meets next month, it will recommend the toll stays at its current level.
"As the tolls currently stand, the Mersey crossing is the joint third most expensive, the only ones higher are the Severn and the Dartford crossing.
"At Dartford there is a discount for locals so that they pay 20p a crossing.
"When considering an increase, Merseytravel has to take into account the economic and social circumstances of Merseyside.
"Those circumstances are never good and Liverpool and Wirral have pockets with some of the greatest deprivation in England.
"Given the state of the whole country, Merseytravel would have to be mad to think that now is a reasonable time for them to extract even more money from the drivers and businesses that use the tunnels.”
A Merseytravel spokesman said: "The report is for information only and does not give members the facility to define the actual toll levels.
"Officers will be requested to produce a report for the authority budget setting meeting recommending the actual level of tolls.
"A final decision on any possible change in tunnel tolls will then carefully be considered by a meeting of the full authority."
Comments(8)
JohnON
says...
4:46pm Thu 3 Jan 13
Witch Finder General 2
says...
8:47pm Thu 3 Jan 13
Independent auditors have examined the transport authority’s books after the ECHO reported how an embarrassing internal dossier had revealed possible broken contract laws .Someone has to pay for failure and it is you and I as taxpayers.
Hugo1008
says...
6:42pm Mon 7 Jan 13
I understand the original construction debt costs have been cleared long ago, or has the tunnel been re-mortgaged since.
One thing we do know is that the motoring taxes collected from British drivers far exceeds very substantially the actual amount of money spent on Roads, Highways, Tunnels, and Bridges, throughout the entire country.
It is high time that Mersey Tunnel Fees vast income, is ring fenced exclusivly for Merseyside Cross River Travel.
There is a smell of creative accounting in the air.
Positive thinker
says...
7:44pm Mon 7 Jan 13
pooboy
says...
1:53pm Tue 8 Jan 13
it may encourage less carbon footprint AND get money into the train companies pockets.
The amount of people who drive into liverpool from wirral is just sheer LAZZINESS.....get the train.
Hugo1008
says...
3:44pm Tue 8 Jan 13
No your right,
20p per day 5 days a week 50 weeks a year, is not going to break the bank, but it is yet another tax on the local population, and when you multiply that by the sheer number of cars, vans, wagons and busses, every day.
It turns out to be a massive sum of money that we the people who live in Merseyside both sides of the River do not see any positive results from, what is your opinion on ring fencing that for local benefit.
bickyboy
says...
6:50pm Wed 9 Jan 13
WirralAl says...
2:02pm Thu 3 Jan 13