Forth Road Bridge tolls concession
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• A concession for certain heavy goods vehicle users figures in the new scale of toll charges for the Forth Road Bridge announced by the Scottish Development Department last Friday.
The revised charges, which will be fixed by an Order by the Scottish Secretary, Mr. William Ross, are those proposed at a public inquiry last March, except that Mr. Ross has accepted objectors' evidence that a 10s charge would bear heavily on the category of bridge users whose heavy vehicles cross the bridge regularly and frequently. He has decided that owners and operators of heavy vehicles will have a concession of 6s per journey for 32 journeys or more in a calendar month on conditions required by the Joint Board for payment and collection and approved by the Secretary of State.
The new charges will be 3s for cars and light goods vehicles; 5s for scheduled service buses: and lOs for other commercial vehicles except where the concession applies.
A review of the toll structure will be made in four years time in the light of figures of traffic growth then available.
Mr. George Telford, Scottish area chairman of the RHA, described the increases as "calamitous". And Mr. L. J. Stokoe, area secretary, added: "This is a big blow. The introduction of these tolls will mean a considerable increase in costs which will have to be passed on to the customer. The companies themselves cannot be expected to absorb the higher charges."