Rise 'catastrophic' for business

8:16am Wednesday 6th February 2008

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A BOYCOTT against Mersey Tunnels is being considered after tolls increased again this week.

The increases were approved by six Liverpool-based members of Merseytravel's board on Monday afternoon and from April 6, car drivers will be charged £1.40 per journey through either the Kingsway or Queensway tunnels.

“I don’t believe that putting 10p on the toll will break the bank.”

Cllr Mark Dowd

But owners of class two vehicles, including minbuses and small goods vehicles, will be hit hardest, as their toll is going up from £1.30 to £2.80 per journey.

Buses and vehicles weighing more than 3.5 tonnes will be charged £4.20 and HGVs will incur a 40p rise to £5.60 per journey.

All four Wirral councillors on Merseytravel's board voted against the increase, intended to raise money for travel schemes across Merseyside.

John McGoldrick, secretary of the Mersey Tunnel Users' Association told Globe that the increase will hit Wirral drivers hard and is urging drivers to boycott the tunnels.

He told the Globe: "It's bad news for the people of Wirral. For a district which has the highest emigration rate in Britain, this rise is enough reason for people to leave Wirral. The association will be meeting to discuss this and to start a demonstration against this. One of the options will be a boycott.

"As long as there are tunnels there will be tolls, but it would be a major financial boost to Wirral if the tunnels were free.

He added: "These increases aren't going towards paying off the debt of the tunnels, which was the whole reason for the tolls in the first place. They are purely for making a profit."

On Monday, six members of Mersey Travel's board voted in favour of the increases, with four against them and eight abstaining.

Conservative councillor Chris Blakeley, Labour councillors Ron Abbey and Denis Knowles, and Lib Dem Cllr Dave Mitchell, all voted against the toll rises. The rest of the Lib-Dem members abstained.

Cllr Blakeley said afterwards: "I am disappointed that despite the arguments put forward by me that the board voted narrowly in favour of raising the tunnel tolls, six four, four against, with eight Liberal Democrats abstaining.

"It has been said that It's only 10p per journey per car, so what's the problem? Ten pence per journey may not seem much but, if you use the tunnels every day throughout your working life it all adds up.

"The non-political Mersey Tunnel Users Association calculates that each tunnel user already pays £75,000 throughout their lives.

"And what about those users who, up until this proposal were classified the same as class 1, their reclassification into class 2 banding will result in a huge increase from £1.30 per journey to £2.80 per journey a massive increase of 115%, the effects of that could prove catastrophic to small businesses.

"With regard to car users who are by far the biggest majority of tunnel users. The point is not that it is 10 pence; the question is why should there be tolls at all?

"Once again, we are seeing Wirral residents being hit with a tax hike. It is time that Merseytravel and the Government followed the example of the Scottish Executive and placed both tunnels within the national road network, free of tolls."

Merseytravel chairman, Cllr Mark Dowd, said: "In 1992, the tunnels were £1. In 2006, the price was put up to £1.30.

"I understand that people don't wish to pay extra cash, but tunnel running costs are £35m a year, which pays for wages, tunnel maintenance and heath and safety measures.

"I don't believe that putting 10p on the toll will break the bank."