Legal Brief
End to Scottish Tolls
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The last Scottish tolls were removed from Monday 11th February.
The campaign to remove tolls was started by a group (Skye and Kyleakin Against Tolls) in Skye when the tolled bridge opened in 1995. After a hard battle they eventually won their fight at the end of 2004. Since then the National Alliance Against Tolls have been lobbying for the remaining three tolls - Clyde, Firth and Tay - to also be removed.
The Clyde toll went in 2006 and now the Forth and Tay tolls have gone. An NAAT spokesman (John McGoldrick) said "While Scotland has become a toll free nation and will be able to attract more inward investment and tourists, the rest of the "United" Kingdom is moving in the opposite direction."
"The long term aim of the UK Government seems to be to have road tolls on new roads and even on existing roads, disguised as "congestion charging" or "road pricing".
"The Local Transport Bill which will give more tolling powers to the local authorities and to the unelected passenger transport authorities has already passed through the Lords and seems likely to sail though the Commons without the least demur from any party. This is in complete contrast to Scotland where both the SNP and the Scottish Tories fought the election in 2007 on the basis of not only ending all the existing tolls but also promising that Scotland would not bring in road tolls however disguised."
"When Gordon Brown was an opposition MP he fought against the Forth bridge tolls and said that the charging of tolls was "totally indefensible on the grounds of logic, equity and economic rationality". The Prime Minister will presumably be pleased that the tolls have at last gone, and that he can now travel free across the Forth bridge which is almost on the doorstep of his North Queensferry home.
"We believe that it is right that the Prime Minister and everyone else in Scotland should not have the added burden of tolls. But why should drivers elsewhere continue to suffer either because they have to pay tolls or because the roads that they use are more congested due to other traffic making longer journeys to avoid tolls such as on the virtually empty M6 Toll road? The Prime Minister should take a lesson from his homeland and end all toll taxes in England and Wales now."
The Clyde toll went in 2006 and now the Forth and Tay tolls have gone. An NAAT spokesman (John McGoldrick) said "While Scotland has become a toll free nation and will be able to attract more inward investment and tourists, the rest of the "United" Kingdom is moving in the opposite direction."
"The long term aim of the UK Government seems to be to have road tolls on new roads and even on existing roads, disguised as "congestion charging" or "road pricing".
"The Local Transport Bill which will give more tolling powers to the local authorities and to the unelected passenger transport authorities has already passed through the Lords and seems likely to sail though the Commons without the least demur from any party. This is in complete contrast to Scotland where both the SNP and the Scottish Tories fought the election in 2007 on the basis of not only ending all the existing tolls but also promising that Scotland would not bring in road tolls however disguised."
"When Gordon Brown was an opposition MP he fought against the Forth bridge tolls and said that the charging of tolls was "totally indefensible on the grounds of logic, equity and economic rationality". The Prime Minister will presumably be pleased that the tolls have at last gone, and that he can now travel free across the Forth bridge which is almost on the doorstep of his North Queensferry home.
"We believe that it is right that the Prime Minister and everyone else in Scotland should not have the added burden of tolls. But why should drivers elsewhere continue to suffer either because they have to pay tolls or because the roads that they use are more congested due to other traffic making longer journeys to avoid tolls such as on the virtually empty M6 Toll road? The Prime Minister should take a lesson from his homeland and end all toll taxes in England and Wales now."
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