MERSEY Gateway Bridge bosses have cancelled £26,000 worth of toll fines racked up by one young driver 'as a goodwill gesture'.

Jack Murray, 20, from Runcorn, said he suffered sleepless nights after accruing fines and bills for unpaid tolls which eventually totaled £26,000.

As a Halton resident, he is entitled to free travel across the £600m bridge under the Local User discount Scheme (LUDS).

However, Mr Murray failed to include his Council Tax bill when he applied for the discount, meaning his application was never completed, the BBC has today reported.

He has now been told he will no longer have to pay the staggering amount of cash he owed to toll operators Merseyflow, who are waiving the penalties as “as a goodwill gesture.”

Jack  said: “I was very frustrated when I found out,”

“I lost sleep and I lost my appetite – I was thinking about it all the time. It was very stressful.

“I’m relieved that I won’t have the bailiffs at my door but I just hope nobody else has to go through what happened to me.”

Mr Murray, who works as an HGV driver in Kirkby and uses the bridge for his commute, thought he had secured the discount for residents of Halton Council when he emailed his driving licence, car log book and pay slips to the council.

However it was never registered because he did not include a copy of his Council Tax bill – one of three 'essential criteria' documents needed to secure the free residents’ pass across the bridge.

When he received the first fine he thought it was a mistake but when he challenged the penalties he was told he was past the deadline for appeals.

Mersey Gateway bosses say he won’t have to pay the outstanding amount now that he has finally provided the relevant documents.

Neil Conway, chief executive of Merseyflow, said: “We have contacted Mr Murray to confirm that there are no outstanding fees to pay and to apologise to him for any distress that has been caused. The whole matter has now been resolved.”