IN the Review, January 2, Mark Harper gives an excellent account of the situation regarding the river crossings in his article 'Bridges over troubled waters.' Increases in the tolls will not be as high as originally intended because Mark Harper successfully argued for the cuts in Value Added Tax to be reflected in the tolls, for which he should be congratulated.
However questions remain, and I am sure many people would like to know the answers.
As the tolls increase each year according to the rate of inflation, now that we are in a state of deflation, why are the tolls not being decreased? Will the tolls continue after 2016 when the bridges revert to public ownership? As the tolls are used to repay the building costs of the M4 bridge, and the maintenance of both, why are the tolls the same on both bridges? Is it right that those who use only the M48 bridge should pay for the building of the M4 bridge? As the building of the M48 bridge was financed from public funds in 1966, how did a private company become involved in the running of it? Was it right to employ a private company to run two private roads over two private bridges when both roads form part of the national road network? How can motorway regulations apply to private roads?
What pressure is being put on the Government to authorise Forest of Dean District Council to establish toll booths on the A48 at Minsterworth so lorries avoiding the bridge tolls can pay the money to us instead?
If Scotland can abolish tolls on bridges, so can England. The Road Fund Licence was established in 1910 to provide a means whereby those who used the roads could pay for them. It no longer goes by that name, it is now called Vehicle Excise Duty.
Neither Conservative nor Labour could keep their hands off the money, they wanted it for other purposes and changed the name accordingly with the result that according to the RAC only 28 per cent of the money is now spent on roads. In that case, the Chancellor of the Exchequer must be embezzling the motorists to the tune of 72 per cent.
It is time to restore the Road Fund Licence, use the money for the purposes the motorist never stopped paying for, send the private company packing off to France where they belong, abolish the tolls, and start operating the bridges using, not money from the taxpayer, but money from the Road Fund Licence. – Anthony Reeve, Oak Way, Littledean.