Toll rates to stay longer (From Gazette Series)

Toll rates to stay longer

TOLL charges on the two Severn crossings will stay in place for longer than expected following a tax ruling by judges at the European Court of Justice.

Authority to levy charges on both structures comes to an end when the £900million-plus bill for the construction of the second crossing - completed in 1996 - is paid off.

It was originally estimated that the figure would be achieved by the summer 2014.

But judges have ruled that VAT is payable on payments and the government is allowing the bridge operators to continue collecting tolls until the additional sum - totalling almost £20million - has been reached, probably in early 2016.

The bill for the second Severn crossing was originally predicted to be paid off by 2022. But the timescale was revised two years ago when higher than expected traffic flows caused the date to be brought forward by up to a decade.

The tolls are collected by Severn River Crossing plc, the non-profit making company granted the concession to construct the second crossing.

Tolls for crossing into Wales via both bridges are currently £4.80(cars), £9.60 (light goods vehicles) and £14.30 (HGVs).

A Department of Transport spokesman said it was too early to forecast what would happen once the new figure had been achieved "All anyone can say for sure is that once the concession has been paid off the power to toll expires and the matter passes back to Parliament," he said.

Northavon MP Steve Webb said he would be surprised if charges were withdrawn completely once constuction costs had been covered.

He said the future of the toll regime should be the subject of public consultation two years before the concession came to an end.