Severn up: 150pc
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INDUSTRY is "outraged" by Department of Transport plans for a 150 per cent increase in Severn Bridge tolls, the Freight Transport Association said last week. But the DTp said the increase would not harm Welsh industry.
ETA planning and traffic services manager Don McIntyre told last week's inquiry in Bristol that it is "absolute nonsense" to use tolls to pay off the debts on estuarine crossings when these debts already stand at £460m.
And he went on: "It is adding insult to injury to be seeking an increase in Government charges of 150 per cent when the Government was claiming as its main economic target the defeat of inflation and achievement of stable prices."
The DTp wants to increase the commercial vehicle toil from 40p to E1 and the light van and car toll from 20p to 50p. If an increase of any level were demanded, a matter the ETA questioned, then it should be to 60p for commercials and 30p for light vans and cars.
Road Haulage Association Western district manager Albert Simpson also urged the abolition of tolls, and said the 150 per cent increase was an unjustifia ble one which would have to be passed on to consumers of goods carried over the bridge.
It was wrong to believe that the high tolls were offset by exceptional benefits, he argued, and added that higher tolls would hinder further industrial development in Wales, That contradicted evidence from DTp economist Robert Anderson who said South Wales was closer to London than other areas with high unemployment, and argued that there was no likelihood of any jobs being lost as a result of the tolls increase.
The increase would be equivalent to an extra mile's travel by a lorry, he said.