So the auction is over, the bridge has been sold for £1,080,000 and the new owner is not the county council (who were never in the bidding). This is hugely disappointing for 10,000 daily bridge users who are all losers in this tawdry tale of tax-evasion, highway robbery and time-wasting. A new private owner almost certainly means another generation of entirely unnecessary wasted time, frustration, idling engines and pollution just to line someone's pocket. A clear case of 'same shit, different bucket' or put more politely perhaps: plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose.
People who don't experience the twice-daily frustration will continue to wonder what all the fuss is about and advise bridge users to 'get a life', 'find an alterative route', 'stop whinging'. To those people I say this: when you have a little local problem that affects yours and your neighbours lives, when you want help, advice or support I will walk on by. Check out the cries for help from local people who have had enough of the time-wasting and highway robbery.
So what happens now? Some of my fellow bridge-users will continue not to pay. Some may be verbally abusive to toll collectors and some may throw eggs (please don't, it's horrid). But most will continue quietly raging, saying "thank you" to the toll collector while the queues get ever longer.
I use the bridge most days but I neither pay nor wait in the queue. I found my own answer to the toll collection problem: I got a motorcycle. I advise all bridge-users to consider this alternative. I wish I'd done it years ago. So I'll bid the toll collector 'good day' and ride on, over and out there somewhere.
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What happens if you refuse to pay?
ReplyDeleteWhen the Skye Bridge opened, people there officially offered a refusal when asked to pay when they crossed, and were given summons to court. These all had to be waived in the end as the over 900 summonses would have ground the local courts to a halt. The Skye Bridge is now free as a result.
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ReplyDeleteWhy should the taxpayers of Oxfordshire pay? If the people of Eynsham want it so much why didn't you bid for it? It's 5p. Get over it.
ReplyDeleteDave
ReplyDelete1. because it's a vital and pratically unavoidable part of the local county transport network
2. because we haven't got that kind of cash, and because it's not just an Eynsham bridge, it's an Oxfordshire bridge (see point 1 above)
3. If you'd read my blog, you'll see it's not the 5p people object to. No one gives a shit about 5p. It's the hours of wasted time.
I'm over it, mate; over and out.