New row over Skye tolls • The Scottish Office is
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being challenged to investigate claims that the contractor manning the toll-booths on the Skye Bridge has not been assigned the right to collect tolls.
Coventry-based van driver Thomas McAlister alerted his local MP Geoffrey Robinson to the apparent oversight by the SO. He claims that drivers should now be entitled to compensation for tolls they have already paid.
Robinson has agreed to pass McAlister's concerns to the SO. McAlister, a member of the campaign group Skye and Kyle Against Tolls (SKAT), says the SO never signed an order assigning the right of Miller Civil Engineering's employees to collect the tolls.
"In my opinion the Scottish Office and the tolls are stuffed," says McAlister, who regularly travels to Skye delivering loads of electrical equipment and spare parts. "All drivers should be compensated."
Hauliers regularly using the bridge currently pay £19.65, having won a 25% reduction last Christmas (CM 18-31 December 1997).