PROTESTORS are set to make their voices heard as the tunnel toll hike comes into force next week.

Cash tolls for cars will go up from £1.50 to £1.60 at midnight on Sunday with the highest toll going from £6.00 to £6.40.

The discounted toll for Tag users is not changing.

And the Mersey Tunnels Users Association (MTUA) will be staging a protest on Easter Monday, April 1, between 10.00 and midday.

It will take place on the Oakdale Road bridge (off the A5139 / Dock Road Seacombe) near the toll booths at the tunnel entrance in Wallasey.

And Dave Loudon, the chairman of the MTUA, urged those who use the tunnels to come to the demonstration or to contact their MP and local councillors if they could not attend

He said: "Even before this latest increase, the Tunnel tolls were a drag on the economy and jobs.

"This Easter egg present from Merseytravel and the previous increase which was on a Mother's Day (2011) also highlights the fact that tolls divide people on one side of the river from families and friends on the 'other side'.

"A regular user without a tag will now be paying about £800 a year on top of all the other taxes that they have to pay for the 'freedom' to use the road. If people just quietly accept this latest increase in the 'toll tax'  then the authorities will be back for another pound of flesh in 12 months time to boost the profits that they make from tunnels users."

Mr Loudon also warned that the situation could get even worse in the region.

He added: "The Government, with the backing of the local politicians, plan to put tolls on the existing Runcorn bridge. This toll barrier all along the Mersey from Liverpool to the outskirts of Warrington will further divide the region in a way that happens nowhere else in Britain."