Sign up to Humber Bridge tolls campaign

THE Mail is today urging readers to back our fight to scrap Humber Bridge tolls or reduce them to just £1 for cars.

Readers are being asked to sign our A Toll Too Far petition, calling for the Government to enable this to happen by canceling the landmark's £350m debt.

The call follows a report that revealed reducing the toll could benefit East Yorkshire's economy by a massive £1.1bn over the next 25 years.

People can put their name to the petition by filling out a coupon in today's Mail or visiting www.thisishullandeastriding.co.uk/ tolltoofar.html

Today, traders in the region were among the first to support the campaign.

According to the report, the tolls are damaging the area's businesses, claiming some people on the south bank of the Humber are more likely to go shopping at Meadowhall or Lincoln than to pay the charge – currently £2.70 for a car to make a single crossing and £10.90 for some large lorries and buses – and travel to Hull.

Mike Killoran, manager of the city's Princes Quay Shopping Centre, said he wholeheartedly supported the campaign.

He said: "Market research has shown we do not really get customers from across the Humber. The toll is definitely stopping people from coming across."

Every year, at least 75 per cent of the £21m made from 6.6 million journeys goes to service the debt. The cost of operating the bridge is thought to be about £3m a year.

If the debt was axed, just maintenance and running costs would have to be recouped, either through a much smaller toll of around £1, a small levy on local rates or by the Government adopting the bridges as part of its national highway network.

The bridge is managed and run by The Humber Bridge Board – a not-for-profit organisation supported by Hull City Council, East Riding Council, North Lincolnshire Council and North East Lincolnshire Council.

Bridgemaster Peter Hill said: "It is our greatest desire to lower the bridge toll or even remove it, but we have a very large debt with the Government.

"If we didn't charge the tolls and pay the Government, they would land the debt on the people who lived in that area, via the local authorities. This would work out at about £2,000 per person."