Tyne Tunnel toll to rise by up to 20p
LDRSThe cost of driving through the Tyne Tunnel will rise in a few months, after a price hike was signed off by council leaders.
A toll increase of up to 20p will come into force on 1 May.
Members of the North East Combined Authority's (NECA) cabinet voted at a meeting in Blyth on Tuesday to approve the changes.
Currently, it costs either £2.50 or £5 to make a single journey through the tunnels, depending on the size of vehicle, with a 10% discount applied for drivers who use a prepaid account with operator TT2.
However, there will soon be a 10p rise that will take the price of the Class 2 toll to £2.60 for cars, vans or buses weighing less than 3.5 tonnes.
The Class 3 toll, for LGVs, HGVs or buses heavier than 3.5 tonnes, is to jump by 20p to £5.20.
About 83% of the journeys through the tunnels are now made by drivers who have a prepaid account. The new toll rates, with the 10% discount applied, will be £2.34 and £4.68.
'Major improvements'
NECA's cabinet approved the changes without any debate or dissent.
A report had warned failing to increase the tolls would result in a "substantial financial risk" and charges were needed to pay operational costs as well as borrowing costs incurred when building the second tunnel, which opened in 2011.
Under the terms of the contract agreed with TT2 in 2007, the combined authority pays the company to manage and operate the tunnels via a "shadow toll" – an RPI-linked figure which increases every January and is now £2.70 per vehicle journey through the tunnel.
NECA said the real toll charged to motorists should remain "as close as possible" to that rate in order for the combined authority fund the shadow toll without incurring major losses.
Gateshead Council leader Martin Gannon told the Local Democracy Reporting Service it had been important to get the second tunnel built and the only way to fund it at the time was through a partnership with a private company.
He said: "It was built by a private company, it was off the public purse. Therefore as a consequence we have this arrangement with charges."
