Comment: Fighting on over tunnel injustice

Jun 13 2008 Liverpool Daily Post

THE campaign to scrap the tolls that exist on the Mersey Tunnels has today moved on apace. It has been given fresh impetus by a sense of injustice.

For those tunnel users who have to find ever-increasing amounts of cash to drive beneath the River Mersey are, understandably, unhappy at what they believe is a system unfairly stacked against them.

Yesterday, the Dartford tunnel tolls were dropped to just 20p for local people who have to use them on a regular basis.

The announcement from the Government was greeted as a done deal by disheartened Mersey Tunnel campaigners, who feel they are being discriminated against.

And it would seem as though they have a point. Why should tunnel users “down south” get a cheaper ride when the Merseyside tolls are not even up for discussion?

One campaigner said he would have been more surprised if the end of the Government consultation had ended with toll rates in Dartford remaining unchanged. It speaks volumes about how badly let down this pressure group feels.

The responses from Parliament have been dismissive, to say the least. Does no one in Government understand just what a crippling levy this is for tunnel users over the course of a year?

For businesses, the cost is a very real difficulty – especially in such testing economic times. Campaigners may want the Mersey Tunnels and all other crossings to be free, but even whittling the cost down to 20p per journey would be an enormous step forward.

The door has been opened with the Dartford decision. The Government should now expect some serious lobbying from the North West as campaigners redouble their efforts in the light of this perceived snub to their hard-fought battle. At election time, candidates – whether their ambitions lie with local administrations or Westminster – can be sure they will face some tough questions about what, exactly, they can do to ease the Merseytravel toll burden so many tunnel users say they struggle to pay.