MOTORISTS are set to be hit in the pocket yet again as cash tolls for using the Tamar Bridge and Torpoint Ferries are set to rise next week.

For thousands of drivers who rely on the crossings every day, the hike is seen as another punishing blow during a cost-of-living crisis that shows no sign of easing.

Commuters, key workers are small businesses will be furious at the rise to £3 per crossing from midnight on May 12.

The discounts for pre-paid crossings using the TamarTag scheme will continue to be 50 per cent of the full toll, resulting in a tag toll for cars and vans of £1.50 (a 20p increase). Tolls for other vehicles will broadly increase pro rata.

Although motorcycle tolls at Torpoint will increase to £1, riders will, for the first time, be able to pay by card.

The application to revise tolls was approved by the Secretary of State for Transport at the end of March after considering the recommendation from an Independent Inspector following a Public Local Inquiry.

Whilst most other tolled crossings charge in both directions, the toll across the Tamar is only charged in one direction (Eastbound into Plymouth).

Between them the Tamar Bridge and Torpoint Ferry carry around 18-million vehicles a year (16-million on the bridge and two-million on the ferries), with the two crossings recognised as uniquely important to the economy and regional growth ambitions.

The Tamar Crossings are almost entirely funded by toll income, which is used to ensure safe operation, ongoing and proactive maintenance and considered improvement of the bridge and ferries.

The organisation recognises the importance of the crossings to the people and communities who rely on them to get to work, school and access health and other services, and has continued to press both the current and previous governments for more funding to keep services running and enable the public to cross the Tamar safely.

The additional revenue will address the current shortfall in income and provide funding to maintain service levels and carry out further essential works on both the bridge and the ferries. Even with the increase the crossings are still amongst the cheapest self-financed tolled crossings in the UK, particularly for a return crossing.

Work is also taking place to develop a strategy and policy to deliver improved benefits for local people and make the necessary changes to legislation that will allow this to happen. This will include continuing to pursue the ability to apply RPI to tolls and smooth out the spikes and unpredictability of Toll Revisions, as well as seeking cheaper tolls for local people.

The rise, however, will not be welcomed by regular users of the Tamar Crossings, including those on the Tamar Toll Action Group, who said back in March in a statement: “This constitutes a 100 per cent rise in four years and a 650 per cent rise in the last three decades. Four times the rate of inflation over the same period.”