I READ in the Review that the Severn Bridge tolls are to rise again on January 1.

This is mentioned in a news item and in a letter in that issue, but it's hardly 'news'.

The Severn River Crossing plc (what's wrong with 'Severn Bridge plc'?) has been allowed to increase the tolls annually ever since they took over the franchise in 1992 and they've done this without fail every year since, so those of us who live on the western side of the bridges are well used to being fleeced in this fashion, such increases having been allowed to be well above inflation by the Act that transferred the ownership.

While I'm wholly supportive of any and all attempts to return the Bridges to public ownership, and either the tolls being totally scrapped or radically reduced, I'm definitely not in favour of the Welsh government solely 'owning' the bridges.

It may have escaped their notice that some of us who have to use the bridges don't actually live in Wales, we live in England.

Most of us in that category live here in the Forest of Dean and we have no say in what goes on in their National Assembly.

Why should we be disenfranchised over decisions that affect our travel over the Severn? It already sticks in the craw that we have to pay the full toll fee when we're only in Wales for maybe five or 10 minutes at most before we cross the Wye and are back in England.

The existence of the Severn TAG system seems to have escaped the notice of your feature writer too.

The TAG system has been in existence  for many years  and is a big help in avoiding the heavy congestion that can arise during peak times and holiday periods.

Having said that, those of us who have a trip TAG still have to pay exactly the same rate as any other user, hardly an  incentive for people to get one.

When the franchise runs out the ownership of the bridges should be transferred to the British government, the one that sits in Westminster, in which Welsh MPs sit anyway. There is no case for the Welsh government to have the sole use of revenue generated in this way, the bridges are for use of everyone, not just the Welsh.

– Kit Spackman, Lydney.