All the recent media coverage about the sale of the bridge should make for a pretty good turn out for Thursday's auction of the bridge in London, a once-in-a-generation event.
Realistically I know the bridge will almost certainly be bought by a private buyer, who will parasitically sit back and wait for all those tax-free 5ps to roll in, while local bridge users pay the real cost in hours of wasted time and wasted fuel. And the local environment will suffer entirely unnecessary pollution as idling engines from vehicles waiting to pay pump out exhaust fumes.
No, I will not be going to the auction. I have to go to work to earn my living and to pay my taxes.
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This is wrong on so many levels. It is private property and no one has the right to use it. There is a toll road in Dulwich which is a popular short cut and charges considerably more than 5p but no one protests. Thats life, if you dont like it go another way. people living near the bridge cant have been surprised about the tolls, so it should be factored into the house price. Why should the rest of the county bail you out??
ReplyDeleteIf the local residents feel so strongly why didnt they club together and buy the bridge themselves and then do away with the tolls?? Could it be because they would then be reaponsible for maintaining it just as the current owners are??
The local purchasers could even have paid tax volutarily if they wanted but when you consider the bridge as a business then I doubt it is profit making after loans to buy it and reserves to repair it etc and VAT is a two way thing. If they pay it they would charge it and the cost of crossing would go up.
All in all its best left privately owne rather than becoming a public liability
Gah! Obviously I KNOW the bridge is privately owned and we've no 'right' to use it. But you've missed the point! It should be publicly owned, just like 99.9% of all other bridges, roads, highways and viaducts.
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