I was delighted to be able to join in the day of protest at the Humber Bridge this morning. A new campaigning group, Humber Action against Tolls, held a protest on the south side of the bridge with balloons and banners, there was excellent coverage in the local papers and the Yorkshire Post all week and a good chunk on the local BBC TV news this evening.
Personally I agree with those who say the Humber Bridge is a barrier rather than a bridge.
Individual car journeys cost £2.70 each way and so create extra expense for family and friends visiting specialist care units in hospitals on the north bank as I heard from several people at the demo this morning.
Also there is a clear economic impact. The tolls depress the housing market in North Lincs and at the same time raise the price of some commodities, for example petrol. Also they create unnecessary HGV journeys in the sub-regions roads as hauliers would rather drive around than use the bridge.
So to me it is all about scrapping the debt on the bridge, after all the bridge has been paid for several times over. Instead I think the Humber Bridge tolls should be reduced to 50p-£1 for cars and light vans and £2 for all HGVs in order to cover the annual running costs.
I was pleased to see that this campaign is cross-party as we had the Labour MP for Brigg and Goole’s wife (the MP was holding a surgery apparently), his Tory ‘oppo’ and the local Lib Dem Euro MP. I just hope the campaign can start to force the Government to look closely at this. In the meantime we’ll keep the pressure on.
Later I was delivering in Hull North as part of their Action Day. Good response from people I met on the way round. Those opinion polls must be wrong!
