Tolls stay for crossings
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• Toll crossings on motorways and trunk roads are to continue. Transport Secretary John Moore announced this week.
The Government has rejected the demand by the All Party Transport Select Committee to scrap tolls on major crossings like the Severn and Humber Bridges.
Moore said that the Government took the view that the debts on the crossings were freely incurred by the authorities and could not be written off without financial penalty.
However, he made clear that the Government recog nises the special financial problems of the Humber Bridge and talks are going on at official level to resolve its financial problems — the debt on the Humber Bridge iS so large that there is no prospect of it ever being repaid from the tolls charged on it alone.
Moore also promised that the Government would be willing to consider proposals for dealing with other crossings in the same position as the Humber Bridge. The only one unable to pay off its debts at any stage is believed to be the Erskine Bridge in Scotland.