Driver hit with TEN bridge fines

ADRIVER crossing the Mersey Gateway Bridge has been slapped with 10 fines – potentially leaving him over £400 out of pocket.

Mark Hill, from Widnes, registered to use the bridge before its opening and paid £10 for an account, which entitles him to a year of crossings.

However, despite displaying the sticker correctly – which drivers are to put in their vehicle windows – Mr Hill has so far received 10 fines, which if not paid promptly could total more than £420.

His wife, Alison, claims her husband was advised by Merseyflow to set up another account and pay another £10, which would be refunded, as their car registration may have been input wrong.

But the couple have yet to be refunded their £10, or have their fines cancelled and have even received two more penalty notices, since opening a new account. Speaking on behalf of her husband, Alison Hill said: “I literally dread the postman coming every day because we are going to have more fines.

“It is ridiculous. My husband uses the bridge two or three times a week and we now have 10 fines for £22 each – £42 if they are not paid within 14 days.

“I rang Merseyflow again on Monday and a woman said that, as soon as we put the phone down, she would be in touch with the complaints department. But we still haven’t heard anything.

“People are saying to ignore the fines but there comes a point when you can’t just ignore them anymore.”

Merseyflow, the toll operator for the new bridge, confirmed that 2,179 pen- alty notices were issued on the second week of the bridge, which cost £1.86bn to build, opening on October 14, and spans the Mersey between Widnes and Runcorn.

So far, more than two million journeys have been made across the bridge, with an average of 72,000 vehicles using it every weekday.

And, despite a number of complaints, Mersey Gateway bosses have said the bridge is ‘proving really popular’.

Alison, who is the landlady of the Kingsway Hotel and Bar in Widnes, said she is actually in favour of the bridge and even the tolls – but thinks the payment process had been rushed.

She added: “I am all for the bridge and even the tolls, it has cut journey times and the traffic is not nearly as bad as it was – but there should be toll booths.

“People older than me, they don’t know how to get on the internet to pay and as far as I know there is just the one centre to go to and register.

“I think more time should have gone into it and I understand the pressure they were under to get it opened, but there should have been toll booths or even a contactless method of paying. “The signs are misleading too.” Alison said that she does not yet know if the bridge will cause her business to suffer, due to a lot of her hotel contractors having to travel and pay the toll.

She said: “My contractors will be paying £2 each way to get to me so I don’t know whether I will be affected and lose business because of it.

So that is something else that we will just have to wait and see. But there is not a chance we will be paying those fines, they can take us to court.”

Merseyflow has been contacted for a response.