FTA demands freeze on Severn Crossing tolls

“Absolutely ludicrous,” is the damning verdict of the Freight Transport Association (FTA) about the Severn Crossing tolls.In its written submission to the Welsh Affairs Committee, the trade body has highlighted the damage that unchecked and successive price increases have had on businesses while urging the Government to freeze toll levels in 2011.Speaking about the tolls, Ian Callagher, the FTA’s policy manager for Wales and the South West, commented: “It is absolutely ludicrous that businesses still trying to recover from the worst recession in recent history are being held to ransom by gratuitous and cynical price hikes across what is an essential trade corridor connecting England with south Wales. Some of our members spend many thousands of pounds on these tolls every month – it is simply unsustainable.”In addition, Gallagher has recommended that the crossing operator considers the deployment of more flexible payment methods.“A reduced rate for off-peak travel for commercial vehicles, for example – would engender greater benefits in terms of congestion, emissions and cost, and should certainly be considered in 2017 when the bridge is expected to be back in public ownership,” he said.“At the very least, users should be given the option of credit and debit card payment - a service which Severn River Crossing Plc are legally able to introduce today.”He believes that users of the Severn Crossing are paying considerably more than those elsewhere in the country.“Companies doing business between England and south Wales are effectively being taxed for the privilege,” he said. “This simply has to stop or else we risk the recovery of the Welsh economy as a whole.“A UK-wide infrastructure tolling policy would remove the massive disparity that currently exists, and could safeguard users against future unmonitored concessionary price rises.”

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