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(this page created 6 February 2014, last amended 15 February)

2014 TOLL increase

Merseytravel are putting up the tolls again.

They decided this on the 6th February. The details are -
Cash toll for cars, and small commercial vehicles goes from 1.60 to 1.70
Tag toll for the above goes from 1.30 to 1.40

Cash toll for HGVs with only two axles and buses goes from 3.20 to 3.40
Tag toll for the above goes from 2.60 to 2.80

Cash toll for HGVs with three axles goes from 4.80 to 5.10
Tag toll for the above goes from 3.90 to 4.20

Cash toll for HGVs with four or more axles goes from 6.40 to 6.80
Tag toll for the above goes from 5.20 to 5.60 The increases may not seem like a lot, but for a regular car user it is fifty pounds a year and the effect on firms with lorries could be hundreds of pounds per vehicle. For all users, the increase comes on top of the heavy toll that they are already paying and makes the Tunnels the third most expensive crossing in Britain.

The increases will hurt those who use the Tunnels and increase the effect of the toll barrier that splits the region in two and reduces employment prospects.

To justify the increase, Merseytravel have spouted their usual public relations nonsense, including this masterpiece - Merseytravel - "Mersey Tunnel Tolls Setting". Unfortunately this will fool a lot of people who are not aware of the real facts or the thirteen million pounds profit that Merseytavel will make on the Tunnels.


Background

The report considered by Merseytravel members on 6th Feb (pdf)

Our message to Merseytravel councillors before the 6th February meeting (pdf file).

What happened at the 6th Feb meeting

Our message to Merseytravel councillors after the 6th February meeting (pdf file).

Press reports.

What has been happening elsewhere over the last 12 months


Background

The law used to be that toll increases were only allowed if they were needed to pay for the Tunnels. But in 2004, Merseytravel got through Parliament a new law which allowed them to increase tolls in line with the movement in the RPI between November 1998 (when there had just been an increase approved) and the November preceding the possible increase. The calculated toll is rounded to the nearest ten pence.

According to the 2004 Act formula the maximum toll for cars and light goods vehicles at April 2014 would be 181.5 pence rounded down to 180 pence (this is the same maximum toll as a year ago but then it was 176.8 pence rounded up).

Merseytravel interpret the law as meaning that they are forced each year to set the toll in line with the above maximum allowed by the RPI and they call this the "authorised" toll.

In the 2004 Act, there is a rider that says Merseytravel have to consider the local economic and social conditions ** before they decide on the new toll.
** In reality Merseytravel have always had the power to reduce or remove any of the tolls at any or all times. So whatever the state of the economy may be, they don't really have to increase the tolls payable. They then, in their words, decide what if any "discount" there will be from the "authorised" toll. So the "authorised" tolls might be increased, but the actual tolls payable might not increase at all.

The current cash toll for cars is of course 160 pence and the authorised tolls for cars is the same as last year - 180 pence. The Merseytravel councillors could have left the toll as it is or increased it by 10 pence or 20 pence.

(Note that there are four "classes" of vehicles that pay up to four times as much at the car toll. There is a small price rebate for vehicles that are tagged.)

When the law was changed in 2004, Merseytravel figures showed that they were expecting to get very large profits fron toll increases, but in practice so far the actual tolls payable have been less than the "authorised" tolls. In our opinion it is the attention that the press give to this and the pressure of public opinion which has stopped Merseytravel from making even bigger profits at the expense of users of the Tunnels. Though it now looks as if either Merseytravel are desperate for spending money or that they believe that the public are helpless.

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What happened at the 6th February 2014 Merseytravel meeting

  • The meeting was attended by two people on behalf of the MTUA there were other members of the public, and press from the Liverpool Echo and the Wirral Globe.

    The meeting started early and the tolls issue was all over in less than 30 minutes with only one officer and three of the members speaking.

    The officer went through the report in about one minute. He seemed to say that the law required Tunnels tolls to keep in line with other transport costs. This may be one of Merseytavel's aims but it is not the law.

    Councillor Foulkes, a Wirral Labour member then spoke. He said why he thought the tolls should be increased and why they should not. On balance he thought that this was not the right time to increase the tolls.

    Councillor Rowlands, a Wirral Tory member then spoke and said that he largely agreed with Councillor Foulkes. He later moved an amendment to the effect that the tolls should not be increased and also that the "discount" for tag users should be increased.

    Councillor Robinson who is the chairman of Merseytravel invted other members to speak but no one took up the option apart from the two councillors who had already spoken.

    Councillor Robinson told the members that he thought that it was right the tolls should be increased.

    There were two votes. The first was on the amendment which was voted for by three of the Wirral councillors (two Labour and one Tory) and one from Sefton (a Lib Dem). All the other 13 councillors present voted against the amendment.
    The recommendation to increase the tolls was then put with a similar result - four voted against and the other 13 (who were all Labour) voted for the increase.
    There was one councillor absent - Wirral Labour.

    Though there was very little debate, in our view some of what was said was wrong and we will be contacting Merseytravel about what they said during, before and after the meeting.

    urgent This is a full transcipt on the Blog of John Brace who was at the meeting.

    This is a link to Merseytravel website with all the documents for the meeting.

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    Some of the press reports

  • Friday 14 February 2014 -

    =Rex Makin's column in the print edition of the Echo had the headline - Tunnel toll rises really came as no surprise to me. Rex says that the tolls were bound to go up and will go up again because of tolling of the crossing at Runcorn.

  • Wednesday 12 February 2014 -

    The print edition of the Wirral Globe had a story under the headline Tunnel tolls are set to increase by 10p, the story was largely as per the web version the previous Thursday.

    The Wirral News on their website and their print edition seem to have been unaware that there was a tolls rise, but in today's print edition there were comments from two of the local MPs -
    "Alison McGovern: We need to revise public transport in Merseyside". Alison took over from Ben Chapman, a Labour MP who was a strong opponent of Merseytravel and the tolls. Despite her "disappointment" about the tolls increase, she seems to get her facts from Merseytravel's PR machine.
    "Esther McVey: Business confidence is at an all-time high". Esther took over from Stephen Hesford, a Labour MP who was another strong opponent of Merseytravel and the tolls. Like him, Esther is not one to fall for Merseytravel's claims.

    Today's Echo had about the only letter on the tolls that we have seen, from someone in Halewood. He says that "of course the tolls increase was voted through" because the councillors don't care about Tunnels users and because it has to be increased to the level of tolls that will be imposed at Runcorn. He continues "It is a disgrace and tunnel tolls should only be used for the tunnels and not used as a 'cash cow' for Merseytravel .... Anyway, who decided the tolling mechanism in which tolls should rise in line with inflation? - Merseytravel. Get real!"

  • Friday 7 February 2014 -

    Bay TV - "New 10p toll rise for the Mersey Tunnel".

    The print edition of the Echo on page 1 had the headline - "£1.70   Drivers take pounding as tunnels toll rise goes through"
    The main story was on page 3. It included our views, reader's reactions on Twitter, and a tale from Merseytavel about all the vital spending on the Tunnels, somehow they forgot to mention their thirteen million pounds profit.

  • Thursday 6 February 2014 -

    There was some coverage of today's meeting on local radio, and our secretary gave interviews for Radio City, Radio Merseyside and Juice FM.
    Listeners to Radio Merseyside were told on the early morning news " .. the cost for cars to use the crossing is set to rise by 10 pence a journey from April, increasing the price to one pound 70, if the plan is approved at the Merseytravel budget meeting today. Critics argue motorists are already suffering through the high cost of petrol, pay freezes and cuts. Merseytravel though insist that the increase is below the rate of inflation and ...told us the extra cash is needed to maintain safety and upgrade both of the Tunnels ..".
    This claim was repeated at the noon news bulletin - "The body running the Mersey tunnels insists it needs to increase tolls in order to pay for upgrades and to maintain safety."

    BBC - "Mersey Tunnels toll rises by 10p".
    Bay TV - "Merseytravel councillors approve Tunnel price increase".
    Liverpool Echo - "Councillors vote overwhelmingly in favour of Mersey tunnels toll rise ".
    Wirral Globe - "Mersey Tunnel tolls to rise by 10p".
    Liverpool Echo - "Wirral Labour MPs call on Merseytravel to scrap its proposed 10p Mersey Tunnels".
    Wirral Globe - "Merseytravel to vote on Mersey Tunnel toll hike".
    Wirral Globe - "Birkenhead MP calls for vote against tunnel toll increase".
    Wirral Globe - "Campaigners urge Merseytravel to drop proposed 10p tunnel toll rise".
    ITV - "Proposed price hike for Mersey tunnels".

  • Wednesday 5 February 2014 -

    There was some coverage of tomorrow's meeting on local radio, and our secretary gave interviews for Radio City and for Juice FM.

    The print edition of the Liverpool Echo also covered the story under the headline on page 1 -
    "TUNNEL TOLLS SET TO RISE - Fury as drivers face 10p hike in April".
    The main story was on page 2 with the headline "Mersey Tunnel users face fresh misery - TOLLS SET TO RISE TO £1.70".
    The Echo gave our comments on the rise and Merseytravel came out with their usual claims including "Primarily it is about ensuring there is enough to operate, maintain and invest in the tunnels, including there being a satisfactory buffer should unplanned emergency work be necessary."

    The Echo also had as its editorial - "A heavy toll on motorists".
    It said that - "Here we go again - the prospect of another price rise for motorists using the Mersey tunnels
    People have called the tolls a tax on those living in Wirral and a general attack on the retail and tourism sectors and business in general - and it's easy to see why.
    ...........................
    It's a depressing state of affairs and the prospect of toll redictions, or the day arriving (let's dream) the tunnels are toll-free, still looks a long, lomg way away."
  • Tuesday 4 February 2014 -

    Liverpool Echo - "Mersey tunnel 10p price rise proposed".
    Wirral Globe - "Mersey Tunnel toll hike could be approved this week".
    Liverpool Confidential - "Tunnel tolls up 10p and counting".

  • Friday 24 January 2014 -

    Liverpool Echo - "Mersey Tunnel toll rise would not be for profit, travel bosses insist".

  • Tuesday 21 January 2014 -
    Letter in Wirral Globe - "'Unwelcome' rise in Mersey Tunnel tolls".

  • Monday 30 December 2013 -

    Wirral Globe - "Wirral drivers campaign against prospect of Mersey Tunnel toll hike".

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    What has been happening elsewhere over last 12 months

  • Other existing tolls at river crossings.

    Changes over last 12 months -
    Where a crossing is tolled, it is usually deliberately difficult to increase tolls and the only crossing that has automatic annual toll increases is the Severn Crossing into Wales, where on the 1st January 2014, car tolls went from six pounds 20 to six pounds 40.

    As far as we know there have been no changes at the other 15 or so tolled crossings over the last 12 months, though some changes may be in the pipeline

    There are nearly 100 crossings of tidal waters that are not tolled and probably about 100,000 non tidal crossings that are not tolled.
    The currently most expensive tolls are -
    1. The Severn Crossing has the highest tolls for cars - six pounds 40 (the return journey is not tolled).

    2. The second most expensive car toll is the Dartford Crossing - two pounds (though locals only pay 20 pence and no one pays at night between 22.00 and 06.00, and the tag toll at 133 pence is a bit cheaper than the 140 pence Mersey Tunnels tag price from April.).

    3. The third most expensive after the April toll increase will be the Mersey Tunnels at 170 pence.

    4. In 4th place are the Tyne Tunnels at 160 pence and in 5th place the Humber bridge at 150 pence.
  • Possible new tolls.

    There were plans to toll a new A14 road in East Anglia, but the Government announced in December that it would not be tolled after all.

  • Tolls on the Runcorn bridge.

    The contract for the inaptly named 'Mersey Gateway' project which will create a toll barrier along the Mersey as far as Warrington is expected to be signed very soon.
    The Government approved tolls that would be a lot higher than the Mersey Tunnels for both the new bridge and the existing free bridge. But given that Merseytravel, Halton Council and Governments have been working hand in glove to afflict this area with more tolls misery, it is likely that the tolls for the Runcorn bridges will be exactly the same as those at the Mersey Tunnels. It is also likely that all the tolls will be at the maximum legal toll for the Mersey Tunnels.
    Halton redidents have been promised that they will get a large discount which will in effect be paid for by the Government, but how much the discount will be is a secret.
    Dominoes or the bridge game

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