Tolls to go?
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THE GOVERNMENT is to be asked by Merseyside County Council to abolish Mersey Tunnel tolls over a 10-year period.
A deputation from the County met Transport Secretary Nicholas Ridley, and Junior Environment Minister William Waldegrave to press the county's case for making the tolls free.
The county has a longstanding commitment to abolish tolls and its case has been strengthened by an experiment before Christmas in which tolls were reduced which resulted in more people using the tunnels.
The Government has provided help such as cheap loans to river crossings in other parts of the country and has also helped schemes which have taken patronage from the tunnels.
The county council proposed that the tolls be abolished over a 10-year period and in the interim there should be no further increases in tolls. The Government was also asked to take over half the £41m accumulated debts of the tunnels.