Motorists slapped by 855,000 toll fines

DRIVERS have been fined 855,000 times since the Mersey Gateway bridge opened a year ago as figures revealed the number of motorists slapped with penalty charge notices (PCNs) in September hit the highest level since last autumn.

Data published in the latest Mersey Gateway customer dashboard bulletin showed motorists received 93,000 penalty charge notices (PCN) in September, more than during any other month since 111,000 were issued in November 2017, which was the first full month after the bridge opened.

September’s tally brought the total number of fines issued since the bridge opened to 855,000, equivalent to £34.2m in PCNs at the standard rate of £40 before adjusting for early or late payment.

The rate of drivers receiving PCNs also reached the highest level since last November, after 4.7% of all crossings during September resulted in a fine.

Although the data only covers 11.5 months, just short of a full year, the figures suggest the total for the first full year of opening will be around 900,000 fines, or about £36m.

Mike Bennett, Mersey Gateway Crossings Board managing director, said the project team will ‘continue to work hard to minimise’ the number of fines issued.

Drivers who do not make a payment to cross the bridge by midnight on the night of the day after their trip receive a PCN for £40, falling to £20 or rising to £60 for early or late payment.

A Mersey Gateway Crossings Board spokeswoman said that after early payments and annulments are taken ● Above, Anthony Alicastro, Merseyflow’s managing director ● Right, Scrap the Mersey Tolls’ John McGoldrick into account, the total PCN revenue from when the bridge opened to September is around £9.1m.

The tolls and fines system has been a source of frequent anger and frustration for drivers and campaigners since the bridge opened last year, with the controversy culminating in a rewriting of the Road User Charging Scheme Order earlier this year after a landmark ruling from the Traffic Penalty Tribunal put the tolls’ legality in doubt.

The project administration was also slated by Maria Eagle MP who accused it of being ‘secretive and unresponsive’ and lacking ‘sufficient public accountability’ in December, and it was rapped by the Advertising Standards Authority shortly after the bridge opened for tweets claiming that drivers had to be registered with Merseyflow to pay to cross.

This month marked the first anniversary of the bridge opening.

Mersey Gateway bosses have said the customer dashboard is part of a ‘commitment to be transparent’, adding that the bridge is being used more than was expected and demand is high.

A project spokeswoman said the number of journeys across the bridge has been increasing, peaking in July when there were 2,070,000 crossings.

According to the data there were more than 6m trips over the crossing from July to September, nearly 90,000 more than the previous quarter.

On average, 74,000 journeys were made across the bridge on weekdays, more than projected levels and an increase of 2,000 vehicles per day on the previous quarter.

In addition, 96% of drivers paid for their crossings before the payment deadline and 77% of journeys were made in vehicles registered with tolls operator Merseyflow.

More than 2m trips were made across the bridge, which crosses the River Mersey between Runcorn and Widnes, during each month during July and August.

John McGoldrick, of the Scrap Mersey Tolls campaign, has questioned how ‘transparent’ the project has really been.

He said: “What the (Halton Borough) Council and their agents say is the usual nonsense.

“They say that they are working ‘hard to minimise’ the number of penalty charge notices issued.

“But their own figures show that the number of penalties is increasing.

“In September there were 93,000 penalties issued – the second highest figure since the bridge opened.

“As the average daily traffic is just about 63,000, the average driver will be getting one of these penalties at least once a month.

“The system of penalties adds even more pain, cost and nuisance to the burden of tolls.”

Mr Bennett said: “Traffic levels are continuing to increase which is great news.

“We are also continuing to monitor PCN levels closely and will continue to work hard to minimise these – we would much rather people paid on time than received a PCN.”

Anthony Alicastro, Merseyflow’s managing director, said: “July was the busiest month yet for the new bridge and we thought we might see a bigger drop off in traffic during the summer holiday period but that hasn’t really happened.

“What we’re now seeing is a consistent level of demand that is over and above the original traffic projections.

“The dashboard gives customers a simple way to view how the bridge is performing and shows just how much traffic is using the crossing.”

The Merseyflow customer dashboard provides a range data and graphs.

It can be viewed at www.merseyflow.co.uk