Humber Bridge motorcycle toll faces axe

OFFICIALS in charge of the Humber Bridge are to apply to the Department of Transport asking permission to scrap the toll charge for motorcycles.

Motorcyclists currently pay £1.20 for a one-way journey across the bridge, with car drivers paying £2.70. However, recent plans to scrap the bike charge also porposes a single car crossing could increase to £3.

The move has been prompted by an electronic tagging system, set to be introduced for cars, counts the number of times a vehicle crosses the bridge and then bills the owner on a monthly basis.

It's something  Bridgemaster Peter Hill says will be difficult to implement on motorcycles: "My feeling is that it would be a significant cost and difficulty to toll motorcycles under the new system. They would have to develop an electronic tag which was weatherproof in order to receive quite a low toll income, which could be self-defeating."

A motorcyclist crossing the bridge twice a day would save more than £560 a year.

The construction, opened in 1981, is the largest bridge of its kind in the UK and is used by more than five million motorists a year.