MERSEYTRAVEL has announced some 'improvements' to toll collection at the tunnels.

The improvement that most people in Wirral would like to see is an end to tolls.

Short of removing the tolls there are various improvements that could be made to the collection and proposals have at various times been made by us to Merseytravel and they have rejected them.

Some of those changes are apparently now to be implemented.

One of these is a change to the process of the staffed lanes, where payment will be taken by the attendant rather than the cash being handed back to them to make payment at the machine – again speeding up the transaction for the customer.

Drivers have been complaining about the present system which causes delays at the toll booths since the current system was introduced over 30 years ago.

What other organisation would be so contemptuous of its users that it would wait decades to replace such a poor system and then boast about it?

Though Merseytravel are making some changes they are not making the change that we have suggested that would make the biggest improvement.

That change is the introduction of one-way tolls, with a fee only payable on entry at the Wirral side and with no toll payable by traffic coming from Liverpool.

This is far better than the changes that Merseytravel have suggested and would also mean that there would be an end to the risk of traffic queuing in the tunnels because of traffic ahead queuing to pay the tolls.

When we suggested one-way tolls to Merseytravel four years ago, they said there had been a feasibility study on this and that it was expected it would be considered by the elected members "within a few months."

We raised this again at meetings in 2014 and 2015 and nothing had happened.

Did the elected members ever consider one way tolls and if so then why did they reject such an obvious way of reducing toll delays and frustration?

Dave Loudon, Chair, Mersey Tunnels Users.