New bridge system taking a toll on 'angry' drivers

Drivers have been left "surprised and angry" after receiving fines up to five months after they crossed a toll bridge, a local councillor has said.

Tolls used to be collected in person at Warburton Toll Bridge before an online payment system was introduced in December, when the fee went up from 12p to £1.

Graham Gowland, an independent Warrington Borough Councillor, said there had been "loads of teething problems" with backdated fines arriving in letterboxes in recent weeks, alongside payment system problems.

A spokesperson for the bridge's private operator, the Peel Ports Group-run Manchester Ship Canal Company, said the new system was a "significant modernisation and an adjustment for users".

They said the enforcement approach was "proportionate and fair" since it "balances the responsibility we have to drivers who have paid the tolls, or those who have only minor missed payments".

Automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras are used to monitor the crossing, with drivers asked to pay the £1 toll online by midnight the day after they use the bridge.

Regular users can set up a pre-paid account for the tolls to be taken automatically, with discounts for local residents or Blue Badge holders.

Those who fail to pay are sent an Unpaid Toll Charge letter, and can face fines of up to £100.

Gowland said the change in the system had allowed traffic to "move more smoothly" compared with when drivers paid at a booth next to a barrier.

But he said people had now started receiving penalty notices "backdated an awful long way" and many had found out their online accounts set up to automatically top up payments were not working properly.

It comes alongside reports of failed collections of cash from the accounts, and fines issued to people who claimed they had already paid.

The bridge spans the River Mersey, connecting Warburton to Warrington, and was built in 1890.

Peter Ward, who tends to horses in a field on the south side of the bridge, said he recently received three fines despite having an exemption.

The Partington resident said he was upset to receive the penalties, adding that they "stirred up a lot of emotion".

He said drivers had been pulling up and "moaning" to him about the new system.

"I have to show them how to pay - what a pain."

Gowland said: "There are loads and loads of teething problems and instead of the company dealing with them by simply sorting the problems out, reviewing, looking at what's actually happened, they've dealt with them by sending out what appears to be thousands and thousands of penalty notices."

He said many people in the area had did not trust the bridge operator and felt like "they are being used as cash cows".

"Yes, the system needs to bed in," he said. "But the way to stress-check that your system is working is not to penalise innocent people."

Warrington Borough Council, Trafford Council and the Department for Transport have been contacted for comment.

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