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Toll free no longer pie-in-the-Skye

9th December 2004
Page 13
Page 13, 9th December 2004 — Toll free no longer pie-in-the-Skye
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CAMPAIGNERS who want tolls on the Skye Bridge scrapped might well receive an early Christmas present as the Scottish Parliament is this week expected to confirm that the charges will stop by the end of the month.

The government indicated in the summer (CM 10 June) that the tolls would go, but it is now understood that a deal has been negotiated with the Skye Bridge Company to buy out the concession to collect money.

The Skye Bridge was opened in 1995 as one of the Conservative government's earliest private finance initiatives. The bridge company is owned by the Bank of America, which financed the construction of the bridge and was allowed to charge a toll to recoup the costs.

Hauliers will be among the biggest beneficiaries of toll abolition, with some spending tens of thou sands a year on tolls. Isle Of Lewisbased DR Macleod estimates it spends 125,000 a year on tolls.

However, the announcement will not necessarily end the controversy that has accompanied the long-running campaign, because it is not yet clear how much public money will be needed to buy off the bridge company. Arguments now will focus on whether the Bank of America made sufficient money from building the bridge.

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