End all toll charges, urge tourism chiefs as fees are scrapped for Severn crossings
TOURISM officials have called for toll fees on British roads to be scrapped, after the lifting of charges on using two bridges linking England to Wales.
Motorists can tomorrow pass over the Severn and Prince of Wales crossings, which both connect South Gloucestershire to Monmouthshire, without charge.
Tolls on the original Severn Bridge were introduced in 1966, while the second Severn crossing opened in 1996 and was renamed earlier this year. Car drivers are charged £5.60 to pass over both, while it costs £16.70 for HGVs.
At the Conservative Party conference in October, Alun Cairns, the Welsh Secretary, declared both tolls would be lifted in a move he pledged would boost the Welsh economy by about £100million a year. Tourism groups are pressing authorities to rescind further charges.
Kurt Janson, director of the Tourism Alliance, said: “We are in a globally competitive market where people are able to choose anywhere in the world to go on holiday, so it is important that destinations do everything they can to reduce the cost of visitors coming to their areas, so they can be more com- petitive, and one way of doing this to get rid of toll charges.” Mr Janson singled out the Humber Bridge, where drivers pay £1.50 for a one-way journey without an electronic tag.
Patricia Yates, from Visit Britain, added: “Making it easier to travel between destinations is great news for domestic and international visitors.”
However, in October, Southampton city council proposed raising the cost of crossing the Itchen Bridge, for those who are not residents of the city, by 20p. Motorists in Kent and Essex using the Dartford Crossing have been faced long queues for years, yet politicians fear that scrapping the charge could result in worsening traffic volume.
When the charges are lifted on the Severn crossings, there will be 21 tolls or toll roads in the UK, said the RAC.