Me with Cllr Leah Fraser and a Wallasey resident at a tolls rally

Today, along with my colleague Cllr Ian Lewis I attended the Integrated Transport Authority Budget meeting,  (Merseytravel).     At the meeting, having been told earlier in the week by the Director of Resources, that a 10p cut in Class One tolls was ‘Affordable’ and could be funded by ‘built in head room/Capital’ we moved an amendment accordingly, sadly although it was ‘Affordable’ it was voted down by Labour and Lib Dem Councillors.

Merseytravel is a really well run organisation and I am delighted to serve on it, however they seem intent on using the tolls, as some sort of cash cow to fund other schemes, all at the expense of the motorists.     

We are of course happy that tolls have not risen this year, however, I believe that a tremendous opportunity has been missed by Labour and Lib Dems to ease the burden on the tunnel users, an opportunity that may never be available again, and the ‘Authorised’ toll for cars at £1.60, is a ticking time bomb that is likely to explode in all our faces next year.