The toll model

SIR – Chris Grayling, the Transport Secretary, has said that when the Mersey Gateway bridge is paid for, the tolls will go.

I remember Barbara Castle, when she was transport minister in the mid-sixties, saying that the old Severn Bridge had been paid for by tolls during her term – only for some accounting wizard, presumably from the Treasury, to prove this incorrect, meaning the tolls continued.

Next year, the tolls on the Severn Bridge will finally be phased out. I wonder how much has been collected. Edward Howell

Swansea

SIR – The same promise as Mr Grayling’s was made when the toll crossing at Dartford opened.

It didn’t happen. In fact, it just keeps getting dearer. Jane Gross

Uckfield, East Sussex