PEOPLE in Widnes and Runcorn and further afield are being bullied because of the Mersey Gateway crossing.

We are all victims of living or working in Halton and being bullied into paying for travel from £10 per year to £1,080 per car per year.

They are forcing taxi drivers and driving instructors to increase their prices just to travel within our own borough.

For the last three-and-half years we have been forced to endure long delays, queues of traffic, road closures and diverted traffic, resulting in loss of earnings and missed appointments.

It is not uncommon to take up to an hour-and-a-half to cross the bridge, using extra petrol.

Last Thursday traffic from Runcorn to Widnes was queued up as far back as the Daresbury Labs at 4.30pm, only to get much worse nearer peak time.

Have we put claims in for compensation for loss of earnings, missed appointments, hours of delay?

We should not be bullied and victimised to pay to travel in our own borough. Nowhere else in the country has to pay.

The Mersey Tunnel is chargeable because it is from Merseyside to Wirral.

On the M6 you have a choice.

The Severn Bridge and Forth Bridge are free.

Small businesses will not be able to find £1,080 per car per year.

One of the main reasons stated for building the bridge was that it would bring extra business to Halton. Businesses are in fact leaving the borough.

It would be interesting to know how many new companies have decided to settle in Halton since the tolls announcement compared to those leaving.

I wonder who from Halton Council decided in their infinite wisdom to allow Mersey Gateway to control the Silver Jubilee Bridge, which links the borough and was never intended to be tolled.

We have been sold down the river by our own council.

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