MERSEY tunnel tolls are likely to be frozen this year.

Motorists had faced the possibility of up to a 20p hike in the cost of using the Mersey tunnels.

This is because Merseytravel was able to charge £1.70 for a single car trip from April, under an inflation-linked trigger.

Currently, the transport authority has the option to charge £1.60 for journeys – known as the authorised toll – but has in place a discounted “actual toll” of £1.50.

A full meeting of Merseytravel councillors will next month decide whether a similar discount scheme will remain.

According to sources, the recommendation will be for tunnel tolls to remain unchanged for the 2012/13 financial year.

A report explaining the mechanism for setting tunnel tolls was noted yesterday by Merseytravel’s tunnels, ferries and visitor economy committee.

In the document, the authority conceded any price rise would not be warmly welcomed by tunnel users.

But it warned that tunnel traffic was forecast to fall by 2.7% by the end of this financial year, a trend which is likely to continue.