Humber Bridge - Finances

Finances

The bridge has a toll charge of £1.50 for cars. Until 1 April 2012 the Humber Bridge was the only major toll bridge in the United Kingdom to charge tolls to motorbikes (£1.20); others such as the Severn crossings and the Dartford Crossing are free. In 2004, a large number of motorcyclists held a slow-pay protest, taking off gloves and helmets and paying the toll in large denomination bank notes. Police reported a tailback of 4 miles (6 km) as a consequence of the protest.

In 1996, the British Parliament passed the Humber Bridge (Debts) Act 1996 to reorganise the Humber Bridge Board's debts in order to ensure the bridge could be safely maintained. Although a significant proportion of the debt was suspended in that refinancing arrangement there was no "write off" of debt and the suspended portion is being gradually re-activated as the Bridge Board pays off the remainder of the active debt.

In 2006 a Private Member's Bill — sponsored by Cleethorpes Labour MP Shona McIsaac — relating to the Humber Bridge, was introduced into Parliament. The Humber Bridge Bill would have made amendments to the Humber Bridge Act 1959 "requiring the secretary of state to give directions to members of the Humber Bridge Board regarding healthcare and to review the possibility of facilitating journeys across the Humber Bridge in relation to healthcare". The aim was to allow people who travel from the southbank to the northbank for medical treatment to cross the bridge without paying the toll, and to allow the Secretary of State for Transport to appoint two members of the Humber Bridge board to represent the interests of the NHS. Even though the Bill received cross-party support (it was co-sponsored by Shadow Home Secretary David Davis, and supported by all other MPs representing North Lincolnshire and the East Riding of Yorkshire) it ran out of time later that year.

A protest at the bridge on 1 September 2007 was supported by the local Cancer Patients Involvement Group, the Road Haulage Association, Yorkshire and Humberside MEP Diana Wallis and local business and council representatives. The government responded to the petition on 14 January 2008, stating that "Concessions or exemptions from tolls on the Humber Bridge are a matter for the Humber Bridge Board."

In October 2008, a joint campaign was launched by the Scunthorpe Telegraph, Hull Daily Mail and Grimsby Telegraph to abolish the fee for crossing the Humber. The papers' A Toll Too Far campaign garnered much support from councillors and MPs serving Lincolnshire and Humberside and was launched in response to a mooted increase in the cost of bridge crossings. The campaign's aim was not only to stave off any potential increase in crossing charges, but to ultimately see the costs abolished. A reduction to a £1 charge for bridge crossings was a sought-after alternative. Thousands of readers backed the campaign with a paper and an online petition.

A public inquiry into the tolls was held in March 2009 by independent inspector Neil Taylor. In July 2009, the Department for Transport announced that it had decided not to allow the proposed increase. Transport Minister Sadiq Khan said he did believe it was right for the tolls to be raised in the current economic climate. In October 2009, the government approved a £6 million grant for maintenance costs, which meant that there would be no toll increase before 2011 at the earliest, by which time tolls would have been frozen for five years.

The Humber Bridge Board applied again to the Department of Transport in September 2010, to raise the tolls from April 2011, but the Government ordered a public inquiry to be held into the application. A three day public inquiry was held in Hull in early March 2011. Following the recommendation by the planning inspector the Government gave approval, on 14 June 2011, for the increase to go ahead. The toll was raised on 1 October 2011, at which point it became the most expensive toll crossing in the United Kingdom. The Severn Bridge and Second Severn Crossing charge a toll of £5.70, but this is only collected in one direction.

In the 2011 Autumn Statement on 29 November, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, announced that the Government had agreed to reduce the debt on the bridge by £150 million, which would allow the toll for cars to be halved to £1.50. Following the government accepting the agreement, between the four local councils, to underwrite the remaining debt Transport Secretary Justine Greening confirmed the reduction in tolls on 29 February 2012. This was implemented in April.