MERSEY Tunnel tolls will rise to £1.40 from April, despite just six of the region’s transport authority board of 18 agreeing to the rise yesterday

In an emotionally charged meeting at Merseytravel’s head-quarters in Hatton Garden, six councillors voted for the 10p rise, four against, with eight abstaining.

It is the first rise in tolls since April, 2005, and will bring in an additional £3.6m for the authority, set to be used to help fund new offices for tunnels staff and harmonising pay.

All those who voted against were Wirral representatives, those who voted in favour were predominantly Labour councillors from Liverpool, Knowsley, and Sefton, while those abstaining were Liberal Democrats.

Wirral Conservative councillor Chris Blakeley said: “If this rise is supported, regular car users will be paying an extra £50-a-year.”

He reignited the debate over whether the tunnels should be part of the national road network and the tolls abolished. The total debt owed on the tunnels is still £78.4m.

But Neil Scales, chief executive of Merseytravel, said there was little prospect of this happening.

“I can’t envisage a situation where that could take place and even if the debt had been paid off there are maintenance costs and police costs. I can’t see UK plc writing that debt off.”

Last night, business and trades union leaders joined in the condemnation of the decision.

Phil Fleming, a Wirral businessman who is actually a member of Merseytravel’s advisory tunnels board, said: “The last thing that I would have expected was them to try to put the toll up without any consultation. I would have thought this was the worst year to have done this (Capital of Culture).

“From a PR point of view, they seem to shoot themselves in the foot.”

John McGoldrick, secretary of the Mersey Tunnel Users Association, said: “We were surprised and disappointed at the same time. On previous votes, only one member of Merseytravel has voted against toll increases. If you read the report, there is no indication that the money is going to be used for the tunnels. The toll increase is just increasing the profit for Merseytravel.”

Charges for cars and motorbikes with sidecar will now rise by 7.7% from £1.30 to £1.40 from April, while small goods vehicles and small coaches (Class 2) will pay £2.80, up from £1.30.

Charges for goods vehicles over 3.5 tonnes and passenger vehicles (Class 3) will increase from £3.90 to £4.20, and heavy good vehicles (Class 4) will pay £5.60 – a 40p rise.

Cllr Ron Abbey, Labour representative for Wirral, said: “I am not happy with this increase, it’s another tax on the commuters of the Wirral.”

The total debt owed on the tunnels is still £78.4m, down from £95m in 2005, but previous attempts to try to have it written off have been unsuccessful.

Last year, £11m was paid off on the debt and interest, and next year £10.7m will be paid to service that debt.

Cllr Dowd said it will take until 2048 to pay the debt.

Denis Knowles, a Lib-Dem councillor from Wirral, said it was clear the toll issue should have been scrutinised by the tunnels board of Merseytravel.

“Individual members could have put forward alternative ways of raising the money.”

He said the way the issue had been dealt with left question marks over the transparency of a contentious issue: “I wish we could step back from it and re-look at it with fresh eyes.”

Chairman of the authority Cllr Mark Dowd said that in 1992 the tunnels toll stood at £1 and that prices for other things had increased by a far greater percentage than 40p in 16 years.

“Bus charges go up by 30p, 40p a year. We are talking about paying people who work in the tunnels, paying the debt (accrued when the tunnels were built), and maintaining the infrastructure.

“I don’t think that 3p a year is exorbitant.

“It costs in the region of £35m to keep the tunnels open; if people believe the Government is going to come in and say ‘here’s £35m and let people go through the tunnels for free’, that would mean total and utter gridlock.”

Last night, Cllr Peter Millea, who leads the Liberal Democrat group on Merseytravel, explained why all his members apart from Cllr Dave Mitchell (who voted against) had abstained.

“We had a debate in our group, some of us wanted to support the recommendation, but one of our councillors in the Wirral had to vote against, so we were not going to leave him exposed either.”

The group did not want a three way split, so it decided to abstain, said Cllr Millea.

To do otherwise would have left a £3.6m hole in the authority’s finances, and “we were not prepared to do that”, he added.

Alec McFadden, president of Merseyside TUC, said: “The TUC’s position is that the tunnel tolls create an economic barrier.

“I travel from Wirral to Manchester every day. It costs me £1.20 (using the tag discount) to travel one-and-a-half miles, and then nothing to go 40 miles down the M62.

“It’s absolute madness, both of them are maintained by the tax payer.”

About 28 million journeys are taken through the tunnels each year, slightly more than 24 million are class one vehicles that will pay £1.40 per trip from April.

Class Two vehicles had had a 50% discount for the past three years, but will now pay the going rate plus an increase to £2.80.

OPINION: PAGE 10;

DEBATE: PAGES18-19

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