tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68011280741506115072024-02-21T14:55:34.563+00:00scrap the tollscrap the toll on Swinford Bridge in OxfordshireUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger31125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6801128074150611507.post-313407901158442972009-12-02T18:08:00.016+00:002009-12-13T11:58:45.476+00:00Over and out there somewhere<p>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: <span style="font-style:italic;">plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose</span>.</p><p><img src="http://www.janetomlinson.com/journal/files/jane_bridgedetailprint.jpg" style="float:left; padding-right:10px;"/>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 <a href="http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?SwTollBr&1">cries for help from local people</a> who have had enough of the time-wasting and highway robbery. </p><p>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.</p><p><span style="font-weight:bold;">I use the bridge most days but I neither pay nor wait in the queue. </span>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, <span style="font-weight:bold;">over and out</span> there somewhere.</p><p><br /><object width="300" height="175" id="msnbc27a0ef"><param name="movie" value="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32545640"><param name="FlashVars" value="launch=34396964&width=300&height=175"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="wmode" value="opaque" /><embed name="msnbc27a0ef" src="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32545640" width="300" height="175" FlashVars="launch=34396964&width=300&height=175" allowscriptaccess="always" allowFullScreen="true" wmode="opaque" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash"></embed></object><p style="font-size:11px; font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #999; margin-top: 5px; background: transparent; text-align: center; width: 300px;"></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6801128074150611507.post-10150206563094488992009-12-01T17:35:00.005+00:002009-12-02T17:38:25.557+00:00BBC Radio 4's Today programme<p>BBC Radio 4's flagship news and current affairs programme <a href= "http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/default.stm" target="_blank">Today</a> will be reporting live from the bridge tomorrow morning just after 8.30am if all goes according to plan… Tune in!</p><p><img src="http://www.janetomlinson.com/journal/files/jane_today.jpg" style="float:left; padding-right:10px;"/></p><p><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8389000/8389948.stm">Listen here</a> - scroll down to 0851.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6801128074150611507.post-62070663387716768122009-11-30T17:49:00.006+00:002009-11-30T18:13:33.557+00:00Thursday is auction day<p>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.<br><img src="http://www.janetomlinson.com/journal/files/jane_tollbridgebooth2009.jpg" style="float:left; padding-right:10px;"/><br>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. </p><p>No, I will not be going to the auction. I have to go to work to earn my living and to pay my taxes. </p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6801128074150611507.post-58922047938910806282009-11-26T18:30:00.007+00:002009-11-26T18:41:12.731+00:00Only in Britain<p>The story of next Thursday's auction of the bridge has gone international. Today I met a French journalist from international newswire (AFP) Agence France-Presse and a reporter from Swedish national radio. Tomorrow I meet a journo from German broadcaster ARD. Having spoken to the pro-toll people (the people selling the bridge) they all wanted to hear why <a href=" http://scrapthetoll.blogspot.com/2008/12/problem.html" target="_blank"> I object so vehemently to toll collecting</a>, what local people think and what ideally I would like to happen (which I am realistic enough to know won't).</p><p>While there is nothing internationally unusual about toll bridges and toll roads, the fact that the Swinford bridge generates tax-free income for a private owner as a result of an antique Act of Parliament is very unusual. <br><img src="http://www.janetomlinson.com/journal/files/jane_thamesmagicverysmall.jpg" style="float:left; padding-right:10px;"/><br>It means that this story will probably be reported as 'this-could-only-happen-in-Britain'. While normally I am proud of my nationality, the fact that as a nation we still retain such an archaic unfairness in our infrastructure makes me ashamed. Thankfully, Britain also allows me to express my opposition to such unfairness. I'm very proud of that.</p><p>A beautiful thing happened on the riverbank as the French journalist and I talked about the environmental cost of toll collection: a bright streak of blue and orange whizzed past - unmistakably a kingfisher! It reminded me of why I love this place so much.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6801128074150611507.post-89548144490585114952009-11-18T18:03:00.004+00:002009-11-18T18:12:34.989+00:00A local bridge for local people?Over the past few days I've had quite a lot of correspondence from people about the bridge. I've been called names by cowardly, anonymous people. I've been applauded for my efforts in the name of fairness. And most welcome of all have been the very interesting opinions and suggestions about what might done to improve the situation, <span style="font-style:italic;">now that we know OCC have no intention of buying it</span>: not least, how local people could take control of the bridge themselves.<br /><br />It's just a thought, but if the bridge was run by local people as a social enterprise, we as owners could control how its run, plough any profits back as we choose, and cock a snook at absentee greedheads who wish to line their grubby pockets with our daily misery.<br /><img src="http://www.janetomlinson.com/journal/files/jane_bridgepainting.jpg" style="float:left; padding-right:10px;"/>It could be done through some sort of co-operative share scheme, obtaining money to buy it through a social enterprise investment fund <a href="http://www.bigissueinvest.com/investment_fund.aspx" target="_blank">such as this</a>. I had no idea these things existed! Alas, apart from personally staying solvent (which I consider to be an achievement in these difficult times) I have no financial expertise to make this happen in such a short space of time. (The sale is on 3 December).<br /><br />It's an extremely long shot, but is there anybody out there who has the time, expertise and social conscience to make this happen in such a short space of time? I, for one, would be willing to buy into our beautiful local landmark. I'll have £1,000 worth, please.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6801128074150611507.post-40598145198225139522009-11-17T17:08:00.006+00:002009-11-17T19:11:09.833+00:00"Tax Haven-On-Thames" says Sky newsThe story of the forthcoming sale of the bridge has been picked up by <a href="http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Business/Swinford-Toll-Bridge-Up-For-Sale-In-Oxfordshire-Buyer-Gets-Tax-Free-Income-Due-To-Traffic-Tolls/Article/200911315455701?lpos=Business_Second_Home_Page_Feature_Teaser_Region_0&lid=ARTICLE_15455701_Swinford_Toll_Bridge_Up_For_Sale_In_Oxfordshire%3A_Buyer_Gets_Tax-Free_Income_Due_To_Traffic_Tolls" target="_blank">Sky News.</a> The fact that we, the bridge users, will be lining the pockets of the new owner - <span style="font-style: italic;">tax-free</span> - makes me sick.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.janetomlinson.com/journal/files/jane_skynewswebsite.jpg" style="float: left; padding-right: 10px;" /><br />There's also an article in today's <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2009/nov/17/swinford-toll-bridge-for-sale">Guardian property</a> section.<br /><br />All this free advertising! The vendor and auctioneer must be smiling.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6801128074150611507.post-15008742154166985172009-11-16T15:34:00.004+00:002009-11-16T15:46:44.481+00:00ITV news tonight and egg-pelting<span style="font-weight:bold;">ITV news</span><br />Earlier today I was interviewed and filmed by an ITV reporter for an item about the bridge on tonight’s ITV evening news at 6pm (in the meridian broadcast region). <br /><br />Oxfordshire County Council today told the ITV news journalist that they have "no intention of buying the bridge". This is not exactly a surprise, but it is terrible news for the 10,000 bridge users held to ransom everyday. Another lost opportunity. No wonder I'm cross.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Egg-pelting</span><br />But it's not just me who’s angry about the idiotic and grossly unfair tolls on bridge, which without a public (or public-spirited) buyer is going to continue into the next generation. I already knew that toll collectors got abuse shouted at them and coins hurled at them. It's not surprising. But today a journalist told me that the toll collectors were pelted with eggs at the weekend. <img src="http://www.janetomlinson.com/journal/files/jane_brokenegg.jpg" style="float:left; padding-right:10px;"/>While I understand completely the pelter's frustrations, I can't condone it. It's not nice and is as uncivilized as legalized highway robbery of ordinary road-users at antique toll bridges. <br /><br />The fine old British habit of egg-pelting is probably best reserved for politicians at election times.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6801128074150611507.post-63096538387860259942009-11-15T11:49:00.009+00:002009-11-17T18:43:40.077+00:00Bridge to be auctionedAccording to <a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6917326.ece" target="_blank">this article on page three of today’s Sunday Times</a>, the bridge is to be auctioned in London on 3 December 2009 by Allsop.<br /><img src="http://www.janetomlinson.com/journal/files/jane_sundaytimesbridge.jpg"/> <br />While an imminent sale is of course of great interest to all bridge users, I am most interested in the very last sentence of article. When the reporter (who spoke to me on Friday) approached the county council, they apparently “would not comment”.<br /><br />Brace yourself, fellow bridge users; OCC aren't interested in acquiring the bridge and we’re going to be shafted again for the next few decades by another greedhead owner. <br /><br />A case of 'same shit, different bucket'.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6801128074150611507.post-69936001337914078932009-11-11T13:42:00.009+00:002009-11-14T14:29:17.224+00:00"Raise the toll" says potential buyerToday I received an email from Lee D who says he (I assume Lee is a he): "would love to buy this bridge and raise the toll.” (The typos in the following quotes are his.)<br /><br />He goes on: "your plight reminds me of the same sort of person who buys a cheap home near an airport then moans about the noise. You moved into the area after the toll was in place. the toll goes towards the upkeep or potential rebuilding of this bridge. no toll would eventually have to mean no bridge, then see how many of you would rather pay not 5p but 25p a trip instead of the long alternative routes. the video you made shows the traffic moving quite swiftly in my opinion.<br /><br />"if it is just the speed of flow, or the wait it causes drivers and their pollution, then i would suggest maybe explore getting a multi-booth centre built a couple of hundred meters down the road on a new wider plot using just a normal bit of road. this would speed up the traffic by the maximum two or three times the width of the bridge would permit anyway. making the toll 24hr could help pay for this. as i am typing i am thinking of more stuff. i reckon even if the bridge was free, the width of the bridge would force a wait at least 50% of what it is now at peak times since traffic simply can't go over it in both directions at once."<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Profiteering</span><br />I happen to think Lee is totally misguided, probably doesn't live in west Oxfordshire, almost certainly hasn't had to waste years of his life to pay a pointless toll every day and he proposes profiteering from other people’s misery. That’s nice.<br /><br />I'd like to pick up on just a couple of Lee’s points:<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />Don’t like it? Then move</span><br />His argument about people who buy homes near airports then moan about the noise is crude at best, insulting at worst. <br /><br />Well, yes, none of us have to live near the bridge, or the airport, or the motorway, or the San Andreas fault, but some of us find ourselves there anyway. In a democratic society, Lee, we have a right to try to make things better and improve our quality of life. That could mean campaigning for changes in the law that improve women’s rights, or safer construction of buildings in earthquake zones, or building a wall that reduces traffic noise for people living by a busy road or scrapping a pathetic and archaic toll to relieve a needless traffic bottleneck and hours of timewasting.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Greedhead</span><br />He says: “the toll goes towards the upkeep or potential rebuilding of this bridge”. Actually only part of the toll is earmarked for this. According to the figures I’ve seen the bridge yields about £100,000 a year tax-free. Great for greed-heads and profiteers! If you buy it, Lee, you’ll be making yourself the most unpopular man in west Oxfordshire. But you have already demonstrated you don’t give a hoot about our lives anyway. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Complete nonsense</span><br />He says: “no toll would eventually have to mean no bridge” What complete nonsense. 99.9% of bridges in this country are toll free. If the bridge was bought by the county council – as it clearly should be – they could scrap the toll overnight.<br /><br />There's more: “if it is just the speed of flow, or the wait it causes drivers and their pollution, then i would suggest maybe explore getting a multi-booth centre built a couple of hundred meters down the road on a new wider plot using just a normal bit of road.” A multi booth centre, eh? From profits of only £100K a year? And on precisely what land is this going to be built? In the water-meadow? And how does this keep traffic flowing when each car still has to stop to pay a toll? <br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />Poppycock</span><br />He says: “i reckon even if the bridge was free, the width of the bridge would force a wait at least 50% of what it is now at peak times since traffic simply can't go over it in both directions at once." Poppycock. It may be narrow, but traffic simply CAN go over it in both directions at once - and DOES. Every day. Nice and slowly, no problem at all. The toll booth simply acts an expensive speed hump. Except speed humps keep the traffic flowing, whereas the toll booth forces vehicles to stop altogether. With no toll, there would just be an occasional halt when two very large vehicles just happen to be crossing in opposite directions at the same time.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Act of Parliament </span><br />Just one point you haven’t considered in your quest for easy money, Lee. To raise the toll you need to amend the Act of Parliament which allows a toll to be collected. You’ll want to look into this before you buy. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Angry</span><br />If my comments seem angry or barbed it’s because they are, Lee. Collecting tolls may be legal, but is is right? It basically comes down to this: is it really fair or ethical to profiteer from an activity that causes daily misery to 10,000 people? Not in my world it isn't.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6801128074150611507.post-75221185718247373712009-07-21T16:57:00.002+01:002009-07-21T16:58:29.046+01:00On the telly this Sunday!<p> For British readers of this blog, I will be appearing on BBC1 television on Sunday at 11am in a programme called <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00lw5v9" target="_blank">Country Tracks</a>, talking (or should I say ranting) about the <a href="http://scrapthetoll.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Swinford toll bridge</a>.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6801128074150611507.post-83307620209554601452009-06-07T10:28:00.001+01:002009-06-07T10:30:50.087+01:00Buyer beware!<p>With the money markets and banking so unstable there are probably lots of investors out there looking for an unusual place to park their wad and get a reasonable long-term return. So goes the story in <a href="http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/news/article-1191272/For-sale-The-240-year-old-bridge-cost-1-65m-earn-113k-year-tax-free-tolls.html" target="_blank">today’s Mail on Sunday.</a></p><p>The Swinford toll bridge may not offer a lot of annual return for £1.65 million (the asking price) - about £100k a year, plus any capital gains, of course - but one thing’s for sure; the traffic using it ain’t going to get any lighter any time soon. A super chance to invest in congestion, perhaps?<br /><img src="http://www.janetomlinson.com/journal/files/jane_rhinoskin.jpg" style="float:left; padding-right:10px;"/>But any potential buyer will have to consider the cost of repairing this historic monument and not least being hated by the residents of west Oxfordshire who use the bridge and hate the toll. <b>Buyer beware!</b> There are thousands of us. </p><p>However, if you have thick rhino-skin, no social conscience and don't care about profiteering from other people's misery, then maybe the bridge is for you! </p><p>For the complete avoidance of doubt I want to say it again: the rightful owner of this beautiful bridge should be Oxfordshire County Council.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6801128074150611507.post-3535740606698794292009-06-05T17:04:00.007+01:002009-06-05T18:41:26.098+01:00An investor's cunning plan?<p> I had an email from someone this week. Let’s call him Mr X. He said:<br><br />“I am one of those greedy, higher-rate tax payers that was searching for a cash-cow investment and [found out about] the Swinford Toll Bridge." </p><p> You have to admire such honesty! <p><p><img src="http://www.janetomlinson.com/journal/files/jane_baldrick.jpg" style="float:left; padding-right:10px;"/>He proposed a very sensible idea (regular readers will know how much I like ‘sensible’ even if it is unfashionable):<br><br />“One idea might be to try and bring in an external investor, remove the toll booths and get the council to pay an agreed toll each year, based on what the expected traffic flow is likely to be. They could install a meter (that cars trigger when they drive over it) to confirm how many cars actually travel across the bridge each year, and then there could be a balancing up at the end of the 12 months. That way the Council would not have to stump up the cash upfront, but could amortise it over a number of years." </p><p>If I've understood Mr X's idea correctly, the advantage for Oxfordshire County Council is that they wouldn’t have to find £1.5 million quid as capital expense all in one go. A private investor, say Mr X, would stump up the initial cash and effectively lease it back to OCC. OCC gets control of the bridge and relieves the appalling congestion and frustration west Oxfordshire currently suffers. And the private bridge owner gets a return on his investment. </p><p>Cunning, eh! What do you think? </p><p>The drawback of this plan is, of course, OCC's willingness - or not - to do anything at all about the bridge and find a creative solution. Only time will tell.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6801128074150611507.post-18791322510309789842009-05-19T18:08:00.001+01:002009-05-19T18:09:44.409+01:00Selling a tax-free cash cowI was very interested to read <a href="http://www.humberts-leisure.com/86/article/1800/page.html" target="_blank">the sales pitch from Humberts Leisure</a> the agent instructed to sell the bridge, and thought readers of this website might like to see it, too.<br /><br />In their <a href="http://www.humberts-leisure.com/uploads/media/65385_Swinford_Toll_4pp.indd.pdf" target="_blank">glossy online brochure</a> (pictured) <img src="http://www.janetomlinson.com/journal/files/jane_bridgesalesbrochure.jpg" style="float:left; padding-right:10px;"/> they state that "In the last 3 years there has been an annual operating surplus of between £95,468 and £113,481". Nice! And tax-free too, remember. The blurb describes a charming little rural idyll, a pretty little cash cow standing in the sweet water meadows of Oxfordshire, waiting for a higher rate tax payer (for that is who the sales blurb is pitched at) to come along and milk it. <br /><br />There is no mention in the blurb of the hatred and frustration that toll collection causes the local population. There is no mention of the avoidable environmental damage caused as more and more vehicles have to queue longer than ever before, their engines idling, pumping out choking emissions. There is no mention of the thousands of hours of time wasted by bridge users as they queue to pay that silly toll. No, of course they wouldn't mention that.<br /><br /><b>Sod the prospective 'higher rate tax payer' buyers looking for an easy tax-free investment; there should only be one buyer: Oxfordshire County Council. </b>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6801128074150611507.post-29334821895457537502009-05-17T14:16:00.009+01:002009-05-17T14:25:06.383+01:00Buy now, traffic calm later<b>We shouldn’t let our dread of traffic lights eclipse our need for OCC to buy the bridge.</b><br><br /><img src="http://www.janetomlinson.com/journal/files/jane_thumb_tollboothroad.jpg" style="float:left; padding-right:10px;"/>Since the toll bridge came up for sale <a href="http://scrapthetoll.blogspot.com/2009/05/toll-bridge-for-sale.html" target="_blank">earlier this week</a> I’ve been talking to people around Eynsham and online. Many are worried that if OCC buy the bridge and scrap the toll traffic might go too fast. The bridge is certainly too narrow for vehicles travelling at any speed. This is a very real worry, the bridge is narrow, but we mustn’t lose sight of the main thing: that there is now a rare opportunity for OCC to buy the bridge. This has to be our focus. The traffic calming can come later. <br /><br />Once the bridge is OCC’s (and therefore ours) there are lots of traffic calming measures to consider before the blunt instrument of traffic lights are imposed. <br /><br />Anything that allows traffic to flow safely, slowly and steadily would do the trick; perhaps some combination of rumble strips, speed humps, width restrictions, double white lines, flashing amber lights, a speed camera set at 20mph with zero tolerance (that would bring in extra revenue, too), and I’m sure there are lots of other ways I haven’t thought of. Any sane person would have to concede that charging a toll is a pretty weird and unusual way of traffic calming.<br /><br /><b>Don’t lose sight of what’s at the heart of the matter: OCC must buy the bridge, or we’re stuck with years of more of the same unnecessary daily misery.</b> This is so urgent that whatever worries we may have – chiefly a fear of traffic lights, from what I’m hearing – must wait to be considered after the happy day when the bridge finally becomes public property and integrated into the public road network.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6801128074150611507.post-90253068603748859772009-05-15T08:00:00.001+01:002009-05-15T13:39:19.979+01:00Letter to David CameronYesterday I wrote a letter to David Cameron, which I'd like to share with you:<br /><hr><br /><i>Dear Mr Cameron<br />I have written to you on numerous occasions about the problems caused by toll collection on the Swinford bridge.<br /><br />The bridge is now for sale. Last time the chance came up for OCC to buy the bridge they did not act swiftly enough and the whole of west Oxfordshire lost out. <br /><br />OCC's official statement says they will "discuss the issue in due course". But this may not be fast enough. The chance for OCC to buy the bridge comes up no more than a couple of times a century, so together we must act now.<br /><br />I urge you to write immediately to Councillor Ian Hudspeth (ian.hudspeth@oxfordshire.gov.uk) and Steve Howell, OCC’s head of transport (steve.howell@oxfordshire.gov.uk), and encourage them in the strongest possible terms to buy the bridge. The residents of west Oxfordshire are entirely fed up with being held to ransom every day and being forced to waste our time and our fuel, to say nothing of adding to the totally avoidable emissions created by our vehicles as we queue the pay the toll.<br /><br />'In due course' is not good enough; and it's not like they haven't already had years to consider this matter! <br /><br />Yours sincerely <br />Jane Tomlinson</i><br /><hr><br /><b>You too can write to David Cameron, urging him to do the same, at <a href="mailto:camerond@parliament.uk">camerond@parliament.uk</a></b><br /><hr><br /><b>UPDATE, 15 May 2009</b><br />I received a swift reply from Mr Cameron's office. His assistant will show Mr Cameron my letter. Let's hope a little political pressure from someone so high profile will make a difference. We can but try, after all.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6801128074150611507.post-34350283793884429142009-05-14T17:07:00.003+01:002009-05-14T17:10:20.133+01:00OCC must buy the bridge now<p>The last time the bridge came up for sale Oxfordshire County Council missed buying it because they weren’t quick enough off the mark.<br><img src="http://www.janetomlinson.com/journal/files/jane_tollbridgeforesaleinpaper.jpg"/> <br>OCC’s official statement says they will "discuss the issue in due course". Hmmm… <i>in due course</i> may not be fast enough. The chance for OCC to buy the bridge comes up no more than a couple of times a century, so we must <b>act now</b>. </p><p><b>What you can do</b><br>I strongly encourage all readers to write to <a href="mailto:ian.hudspeth@oxfordshire.gov.uk">Councillor Ian Hudspeth</a> and <a href="mailto:steve.howell@oxfordshire.gov.uk">Steve Howell, OCC’s head of transport</a>, and urge them to act immediately to purchase the bridge. </p><p>Don’t accept their 'in due course' flannel. It’s not like they haven’t already had years to consider this matter. </p><p>Pictured above: page 7 of The Oxford Mail, 14 May 2009 </p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6801128074150611507.post-88897965854939368862009-05-13T08:00:00.001+01:002009-05-13T08:02:05.959+01:00Toll bridge for sale!<p>It's true! When I found out I couldn't believe my ears; indeed, I actually had to sit down.<br /><br><img src="http://www.janetomlinson.com/journal/files/jane_swinfordtollbridgeforsale.jpg" /><br><br />The Swinford toll bridge is for sale for £1.65million, apparently, and there should only be one buyer: Oxfordshire County Council (OCC). </p><p>OCC had the chance to buy it and incorporate it into Oxfordshire's road system back in the early 90s. But they didn’t. The opportunity to buy the bridge comes up so rarely - perhaps only a couple of times a century - that if they don’t act now we may have to wait another 20 years, possibly longer, for another chance. </p><p>OCC are likely to say they can’t afford it. But that’s rubbish. Yes they can! And it couldn’t be simpler. Make the bridge users themselves pay for it over a number of years by continuing to charge the toll for a fixed period (a number of years). After which, with the money recouped, they can scrap the toll, stop the highway robbery and get west Oxfordshire moving again. The Act of Parliament, which allows the bridge owner to collect a toll, doesn’t say a toll HAS to be collected, after all. </p><p>Do the decent thing, OCC. Buy it now. Buy it for the people you’re meant to be serving. £1.65million seems remarkably cheap to me, and in the light of the <a href="http://www.blogger.com/%20http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8044998.stm" target="_blank">current row about MPs’ expenses</a> is little more than beer money.</p><p>What I fear is that OCC will whine: "we can’t afford it", which really means "we can’t be bothered"; and yet another private greedhead owner will buy it, creaming off the profits from this cash cow at the expense of bridge users in West Oxfordshire, who will line his pockets every morning and evening with their wasted time, wasted fuel, and their patience while simultaneously damaging the environment with needlessly-emitted exhaust fumes. </p><p>Buy it OCC. Buy it now. </p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6801128074150611507.post-76497800035132421542009-05-02T09:43:00.009+01:002009-05-02T09:51:23.108+01:00A short film<span style="font-weight:bold;">The real cost of the toll on Swinford bridge in Oxfordshire is far higher than 5p</span><br />In case you haven't got to time to read all the stuff on this website, I've made a short film (four an half minutes) about why it's time to scrap the tolls on Swinford bridge. <br /><br />Find out how 18th century transport policy is holding west Oxfordshire to ransom. It's highway robbery!<br /><object width="395" height="230"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/bzaB0dndde4&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/bzaB0dndde4&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="395" height="230"></embed></object>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6801128074150611507.post-86060537846038249562009-04-30T17:26:00.005+01:002009-04-30T17:35:19.190+01:00BBC Country Tracks<p>This morning I met a BBC TV film crew to record some footage for a forthcoming programme of 'Country Tracks'. The programme is about the Thames Path and will feature a short section about the bridge which crosses the Thames Path at Eynsham. The presenter, Ellie Harrison, (pictured below, left) was delightful and asked me (pictured below, right) lots of questions. If you've read any of the contents of this website, (I recommend <a href="http://scrapthetoll.blogspot.com/2008/12/problem.html">this page</a>) you can imagine the points I made! <img src="http://www.janetomlinson.com/images/tollbridge/STT2009BBC.jpg" style="float:right; padding-right:10px;"/></p><br /><p>The film crew took lots of footage of the slow-moving queue, of tolls being collected, and they asked random drivers in the queue what they thought of the ludicrous toll. Unsurprisingly, the response was overwhelmingly against it.</p><p>I’ll let you know when the programme is scheduled to be on.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6801128074150611507.post-16484011775940114712008-12-26T15:36:00.002+00:002008-12-26T18:44:25.718+00:00The problem<b>The real cost of the toll on Swinford bridge in Oxfordshire is far higher than 5p<br /></b><br /><img src="http://www.janetomlinson.com/images/tollbridge/STTtollcostsign.jpg" style="float:right; padding-right:10px;"/>The B4044 crosses the Thames half a mile outside Eynsham on a bridge built in 1769 at Swinford. A toll bridge. Motorists using it outside peak hours might think this toll-paying quirk of history quaint, but for those of us who have to use the bridge every morning, it's no joke.<br /><br />Every car using the toll bridge crawls along (if you're lucky) in a slow-moving queue, and then stops to pass a measly 5p coin to the toll collector. Lorries, vans, trucks and buses pay more. Thousands of residents of west Oxfordshire work in Oxford and Abingdon have no choice but to use the toll bridge. According to Oxfordshire County Council, 10,000 vehicles a day use the bridge.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.janetomlinson.com/images/tollbridge/quotebox/quotebox3.jpg " style="float:right; padding-right:10px;"/>Since vast new estates have been built in nearby Witney the pressure on this route has reached crisis point. In the morning rush hour the queues run right back into Eynsham, a mile away.<br /><br />If bridge users didn't have to stop pay that nonsensical toll, then the traffic could keep moving over the bridge - which is wide enough for two vehicles to pass. Yes, traffic would still be heavy but no one would actually have to stop. It's the stopping to pay the toll that causes the problems. <br /><br /><b>This campaign calls for tolls to be scrapped immediately on Swinford bridge. Here's why:</b><br /><br /><b>Waste of time</b><br />An average motorist using the bridge each working day wastes 6½ hours every month waiting to pay the 5p toll - virtually a whole working day. With 10,000 vehicles using the bridge every day, the time wasted must run into thousands of hours a week.<br />Collectively the costs of this pointless toll collection are massive. The needless waste of time by commuters must run into tens of thousands of lost hours a week.<br /><br />If you're a bridge user, work out how many hours a month you spend in the queue. You’ll be horrified.<br /><br /><b>Unfair</b><br />We pay our road tax. Why should those of us who use the bridge every working day pay an £25 extra a year on average? It is grossly unfair.<br /><br /><b>Highway robbery</b><img src="http://www.janetomlinson.com/images/tollbridge/STTtollbooth1.jpg" style="float:right; padding-right:10px;"/><br />5p per car. It's not a lot, but it all adds up. Now, in the 21st century, why are we bound by 18th century transport laws? How is it that a bridge on a busy route - 10,000 vehicles a day - is still privately owned and creaming in our cash? How is that not ‘highway robbery’? And still, most of us still say 'thank you' to the toll collectors. We must be mad!<br /><b><i>A little maths </i></b>OCC's estimate of 10,000 vehicles a day at 5p each (many vehicles pay more) works out at an average of £500 a day. Multiply that by 365 and you get more than £180,000 a year.<br /><br /><b>Waste of fuel</b><br /><img src="http://www.janetomlinson.com/images/tollbridge/quotebox/quotebox2.jpg" style="float:right; padding-right:10px;"/>The daily traffic queues are not just a pointless traffic jam, they are thousands of idling engines, sometimes revving in low gear, or crawling along, wasting expensive, precious and dwindling fossil fuels. At a time of global economic crisis and with global warming a scientific fact, wasting fuel and money is a crime against the planet as well as sheer madness.<br /><br /><b>Environmental impact</b><br /><img src="http://www.janetomlinson.com/images/tollbridge/STTswaninflight.jpg" style="float:right; padding-right:10px;"/>All those engines idling, crawling slowly along wasting fuel create clouds of poisonous choking emissions. On hot, still summer days you can <i>actually see</i> the fumes as well as smell them. The upper Thames is a glorious natural space right on our doorstep, full of many different species of birds, mammals, fish, insects and plants. Why are we needlessly choking it with fumes just to pay a 5p toll to a private owner?<br /><br /><b>History</b> <br /><img src="http://www.janetomlinson.com/images/tollbridge/STTbridgetree.jpg" style="float:right; padding-right:10px;"/>This beautiful Georgian bridge was built in the 18th century, a time before motor vehicles, when we had a much smaller population, when bridge users were on foot or horse drawn, when central government transport policy didn't exist in the way it does today. Why are we still bound by these antique laws today? Isn't it time to move on? Repeal that silly Act of Parliament which allows a private bridge owner to rake in a living from we held-to-ransom bridge users.<br /><br /><b>Bridge users have run out of patience. It’s time for Oxfordshire County Council to act now and get that toll scrapped.</b>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6801128074150611507.post-44213465125263906262008-12-21T18:26:00.001+00:002009-01-04T12:27:22.842+00:00Solving the problemToll collection at Swinford bridge <a href="http://scrapthetoll.blogspot.com/2008/12/problem.html">causes many problems:</a> time-wasting, unacceptable pollution, and an unfair extra local payment. It must be scrapped. <br /><img src="http://www.janetomlinson.com/images/tollbridge/quotebox/quotebox5.jpg" style="float:right; padding-right:10px;"/><br />In an idea world, we'd all use the bus or bikes, but thousands cannot for very good reasons: such as they drive commercial vehicles; they carry children, animals or goods in their vehicles; or buses don't go to the place they need to. For all these people Oxfordshire County Council (OCC) must <b>seriously</b> start to consider the ways to solve the problems. <br /><br /><img src="http://www.janetomlinson.com/images/tollbridge/STTarches.jpg" style="float:right; padding-right:10px;"/>Here are some common sense ideas based on talking to other bridge-users and daily observations of the bridge daily since 1993. I don't mind how OCC choose to do it, just so long as the tolls are scrapped to allow traffic to move steadily and safely.<br /><br /><b>COMPULSORY PURCHASE</b><br /><b>OCC should compulsorily purchase the bridge.</b> The Act of Parliament (see below) which allows tolls to be collected <i>doesn't mean tolls have to be collected</i>. <br /><img src="http://www.janetomlinson.com/images/tollbridge/quotebox/quotebox6.jpg " style="float:right; padding-right:10px;"/><br />However, if the problem is affording to purchase the bridge, tolls could be maintained temporarily. This could be for an agreed fixed period, say one year. The money raised would help pay for the purchase and necessary road improvements. It would effectively then be a temporary tax on those that use the bridge, which seems fair enough. After all if you want something you have to pay for it.<br /><br />I'm convinced that most bridge users wouldn't mind if the toll was raised temporarily, on the condition that they we were promised that in the long-term tolls would be scrapped. <br /><br />Steve Howell, Head of Transport at OCC recently said: "the County Council has looked into the proposal of purchasing the bridge and decided not to pursue this." <b>Why not, Steve? Ten thousand bridge-users want to know!</b><br /><br /><b>ACT OF PARLIAMENT</b><br /><b>Repeal or amend the Act of Parliament</b> (AoP): <i>“An Act for building a Bridge cross the River Thames, from Swinford, in the County of Berks, to Eynsham, in the County of Oxford”, 7 George III, c. 63. dated 1767 (Ref No HL/PO/PU/1/1767/7G3n22)</i>, which allows the bridge owner to collect tolls and makes the building of bridges across the river illegal for three miles either way up or down stream from Swinford.<br /><br />Repealing or amending an AoP is not impossible. It was amended in 1994 to allow the owner to charge higher tolls, if you remember. Repeal it and the bridge owner can no longer charge tolls. <br /><br /><b>Easing the flow of traffic</b><img src="http://www.janetomlinson.com/images/tollbridge/STTqueue.jpg" style="float:right; padding-right:10px;"/><br />Once the tolls are scrapped a number of things could happen to allow traffic to flow:<br /><br />Build a short single lane road going east off the B4449 just north of the toll bridge roundabout by the allotments so that staff at the offices and workshops at Siemens/Magnets can get into work without getting tangled up in traffic going towards the bridge. Siemens may like to stump up some cash for this. <br /><br /><img src="http://www.janetomlinson.com/images/tollbridge/STTbus.jpg" style="float:right; padding-right:10px;"/><br /><br />Install zero-tolerance speed cameras set to no higher than 20mph or possibly slower and slap in a couple of speed humps at either end of the bridge to ensure traffic crosses the newly toll-free bridge slowly but steadily. Speeding fines will help pay for the purchase of the bridge and necessary road improvements.<br /><br />Impose width and weight restrictions. Not being a structural engineer I don't know what these should be but I suspect that 21st lorries should not be rattling over a glorious 240-year-old bridge constructed for horse-drawn vehicles.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.janetomlinson.com/images/tollbridge/STTlorryvanpassing.jpg" style="float:right; padding-right:10px;"/>Widen the internal carriageway by more than a foot - yes, there is room, I have seen it with my own eyes. A bus and a lorry <b>can</b> pass, albeit with caution. The extra width can be found by scrapping the silly and very dangerous pedestrian path from the bridge and then...<br /><br />...build a narrow bridge immediately next to the existing bridge for cyclists and pedestrians, just like the ones built in the 1990s alongside the bridge by St Frideswide's Church on Botley Road in Oxford. The new cycle/pedestrian bridge would follow exactly the line and contour of the toll bridge and fit sympathetically into its architectural style. Probably built of metal, it would be self supporting and would not interfere with the fabric of the toll bridge in any way.<br /><br />And there must be lots of other practical, workable, safe ideas that promote steady flow of traffic. <br /><br />Just don't give us traffic lights. There would be a riot!<br /><br /><b>Toll collection</b><br />And if the bridge is to remain a toll bridge until a 21st century solution can be found, then tolls must be collected more effectively to allow traffic to pass through steadily. As it is at the mo, some days I feel like handing the toll collector a tenner and saying: "Let the next 200 cars through gratis. My treat."<br /><br /><img src="http://www.janetomlinson.com/images/tollbridge/STTpayingtoll2.jpg" style="float:right; padding-right:10px;"/>Automatic toll collection machines should be installed or electronic recognition equipment that scans a vehicle and bills the owner later. Or a prepay system that allows users to pay for say 500 crossings in one go, with a discount for bulk perhaps? Perhaps the present owner would consider installing these for us?<br /><br /><b>Environmental</b><img src="http://www.janetomlinson.com/images/tollbridge/quotebox/quotebox7.jpg " style="float:right; padding-right:10px;"/><br />Allowing traffic to pass steadily across will reduce the emissions immediately to no more than any other road of comparable use.<br /><br /><b>Extra traffic</b><br />Anyone who says doing something will encourage more people to use the bridge ought to get real. This argument is designed to maintain the status quo and is inherently lazy and could even be perceived as even scare-mongering. The bridge is there to be used, for goodness sakes, and if it does encourage more people to use the bridge then their change of journey will have alleviated congestion elsewhere, won't it?<br /><br /><b>The bridge owner</b><br />OCC should compulsorily buy it from the owner for the greater good of the many bridge-users. A private owner should not be allowed to hold west Oxfordshire to ransom. <br /><br />I don't know what the purchase price might be to compensate the owner, but I wonder if they'd like to compensate me for the time in my life they have stolen? Say x=95 minutes a week for y=16 years at say z=£25 per hour - you do the maths. Bridge-users: add your own figures for x, y and z.<br /><br /><b>Who pays?</b><br />At the moment we're paying in wasted time, in 5p coins and in the air we breathe. And any changes have to be paid for. Happily there are lots of creative ways of raising funds from central government, grants, trusts, donations, sponsorship, local individual fundraising and, as I have already suggested, temporary tolls. A combination of ways to raise the money should be thoroughly investigated. <br /><img src="http://www.janetomlinson.com/images/tollbridge/STTtollbooth.jpg" style="float:right; padding-right:10px;"/><br />The fairest way to raise the cash may be partly from bridge-users themselves using temporary tolls; after all, we're used to paying them. It might not be popular but it is fair, practical, predictable and - most of all - common sense.<br /><br /><b>Who can make it happen?</b><br />Ultimately, OCC's transport department is in charge. They need to understand that we bridge-users can tolerate no more nonsense and we want the toll bridge problem fixed, as part of the wider problem of transport in this area (the ancient Newbridge, the snarled up A40 and lack of river crossings generally). Perhaps they're working on it... If so perhaps they'd like to tell us?<br /><br /><a href="http://scrapthetoll.blogspot.com/2008/12/take-action.html">Take action now!</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6801128074150611507.post-57461635083712800182008-12-20T15:41:00.015+00:002009-01-04T12:29:48.737+00:00Take action<img src="http://www.janetomlinson.com/images/tollbridge/quotebox/quotebox4.jpg " style="float:right; padding-right:10px;"/>This website will not get those pesky tolls scrapped! We need to take action. All of us. <b>In just 3 minutes you can </b>sign <a href="http://www.petitiononline.com/SwTollBr/"> this online petition</a> and ask your friends, family and work colleagues to sign it, too.<br /><br /><b>And in just 15 minutes</b> (the time it takes to queue up and cross the bridge on a good morning)<b> you can write a letter. </b> Write polite emails in your own words, giving your own reasons why you think the toll should be scrapped, to:<ul><br /><li><a href="mailto:david.robertson@oxfordshire.gov.uk">Councillor David Robertson</a>, the Executive Member for Transport at OCC<br /><li><a href="mailto:steve.howell@oxfordshire.gov.uk">Steve Howell</a>, OCC's Head of Transport <br /><li><a href="mailto:camerond@parliament.uk">David Cameron</a> MP for Witney<br /><li><a href="mailto:info@evanharris.org.uk">Dr Evan Harris</a> MP for Oxford West and Abingdon (be sure to state your postal address)</ul><img src="http://www.janetomlinson.com/images/tollbridge/STTqueue2.jpg" style="float:right; padding-right:10px;"/>To make it easier<b> download these letter templates</b> (Microsoft Word docs), add a little text of your own and then either email them or send hard copies. Addresses are included:<br /><a href="http://www.janetomlinson.com/images/tollbridge/ScraptheToll_toDavidRobertson.doc">Letter to Councillor David Robertson</a><br /><a href="http://www.janetomlinson.com/images/tollbridge/ScraptheToll_toSteveHowell.doc">Letter to Steve Howell</a><br /><a href="http://www.janetomlinson.com/images/tollbridge/ScraptheToll_toDavidCameron.doc">Letter to David Cameron MP</a><br /><a href="http://www.janetomlinson.com/images/tollbridge/ScraptheToll_toEvanHarris.doc">Letter to Dr Evan Harris MP</a><br /><br />David Cameron, and Dr Evan Harris, Liberal Democrat (Oxford West and Abingdon) are the MPs whose constituencies lie on each side of the bridge. <br /><br /><b>Posters and leaflets</b><br />Use these posters and leaflets (pdfs) to tell other people about this campaign:<br /><a href="http://www.janetomlinson.com/images/tollbridge/STTposterA4.pdf">A4 poster</a> - put it in your window or on a noticeboard at work, if you work for a local business<br /><a href=" http://www.janetomlinson.com/images/tollbridge/STTcarwindowbanner.pdf">Long thin banner</a> - for the back window of your car<br /><a href="http://www.janetomlinson.com/images/tollbridge/STTflyerA4.pdf">A4 information flyer</a> - read more about this campaign then pass it on to someone else<br /><a href="http://www.janetomlinson.com/images/tollbridge/STTflyerA6x4.pdf">A6 information flyer</a> - (prints 4 on a sheet of A4) to give out to other people<br /><br /><b>Write to others</b><br />If you want to write to (or cc your letters to) other elected representatives <a href="http://www.writetothem.com/">find out who they are here</a>. These people are in office to serve us, remember. Write to parish councillors, district councillors, county councillors, Lords, whoever you can think of who may have influence. Be polite and persuasive.<br /><br /><b>What else you can do</b><br />You can also <a href="mailto:jane@janetomlinson.com">email me</a> and volunteer a bit of practical help and support for the time when we’ll need to start leafleting cars.<br /><br /><b>Web banner</b><br /><a href="http://scrapthetoll.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.janetomlinson.com/images/tollbridge/scrapthetollani.gif " width="150" height="50" border="0" alt="scrap the toll at Swinford"></a><br />Just copy the code in 'properties'.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6801128074150611507.post-31231323459004963962008-12-14T19:31:00.050+00:002009-12-13T12:00:23.129+00:00Media and pressNBC Nightly News movie clip - 8 December 2009:<br /><object width="300" height="175" id="msnbc27a0ef"><param name="movie" value="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32545640"><param name="FlashVars" value="launch=34396964&width=300&height=175"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="wmode" value="opaque" /><embed name="msnbc27a0ef" src="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32545640" width="300" height="175" FlashVars="launch=34396964&width=300&height=175" allowscriptaccess="always" allowFullScreen="true" wmode="opaque" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash"></embed></object><p style="font-size:11px; font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #999; margin-top: 5px; background: transparent; text-align: center; width: 300px;"><br /><a href="http://www.zdf.de/ZDFmediathek/hauptnavigation/nachrichten#/beitrag/video/920116/heute-in-Europa-vom-8-Dezember-2009/">ZDF German TV news: video - starts 11mins 10secs into the programme</a> 8 December 2009<br /><a href="http://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/londoncalling130.html">ARD German TV news: video</a> 5 December 2009<br /><a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6943497.ece">The Times online</a> 4 December 2009<br /><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/laughing-all-the-way-to-the-riverbank-1833846.html">The Independent</a> 4 December 2009<br /><a href=" http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/NewsDetails.aspx?storyid=265929<br />">Gulf Daily News, Bahrain</a> 4 December 2009<br /><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/6719467/Tax-haven-toll-bridge-sells-for-1-million.html">The Telegraph</a> 3 December 2009<br /><a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/12/03/2760980.htm">ABC News, Australia</a> 3 December 2009<br /><a href="http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/River-Thames-Toll-Bridge-At-Eynsham-Sells-For-Over-1m-At-London-Auction/Article/200912115485067?lpos=UK_News_First_UK_News_Feature_Teaser_Region_0&lid=ARTICLE_15485067_River_Thames_Toll_Bridge_At_Eynsham_Sells_For_Over_%3F1m_At_London_Auction">Sky news, includes video</a> 3 December 2009<br /><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8393866.stm">BBC video</a> 3 December 2009<br /><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/oxfordshire/8392210.stm">BBC TV News</a> 3 December 2009<br /><a href="http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/headlines/4776705.Eynsham_toll_bridge__Villagers_disappointed_as_it_goes_for___1_08m_at_auction/<br />">The Oxford Mail</a> 3 December 2009<br /><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hC7IVczlO7oHxX-Z56uqDj_Focpw">AFP with <span style="font-style:italic;">apres-sale</span> reaction</a> 3 December 2009 <br /><a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1232976/Tax-free-toll-bridge-Thames-sells-1million-auction.html">Daily Mail</a> 3 December 2009<br /><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5h3wGOEVlPnyE585ltabmYyqRE_nA">AFP on Google news</a> 2 December 2009 <br /><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8389000/8389948.stm">BBC Radio 4's 'Today' programme - scroll down to 0851</a> 2 December 2009 <br />from AP newswire, 18 November 2009: <a href="http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Lifestyle/Story/STIStory_456135.html">The Straits Times, Singapore</a>, <a href="http://pressofatlanticcity.com/news/ap/world/article_ee237cc1-3fdf-566e-ab84-de9cc289eb2d.html">Press of Atlantic City</a>, <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/uk/Toll-bridge-over-Thames-up-for-sale-in-Britain/articleshow/5243888.cms">The Times of India</a> and many more if you 'google' it<br /><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8363828.stm">BBC website video/audio</a> 17 November 2009 <br /><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk//1/hi/england/oxfordshire/8365480.stm">BBC website</a> 17 November 2009 <br /><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2009/nov/17/swinford-toll-bridge-for-sale">The Guardian property </a>17 November 2009 <br /><a href="httphttp://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Business/Swinford-Toll-Bridge-Up-For-Sale-In-Oxfordshire-Buyer-Gets-Tax-Free-Income-Due-To-Traffic-Tolls/Article/200911315455701?lpos=Business_Second_Home_Page_Feature_Teaser_Region_0&lid=ARTICLE_15455701_Swinford_Toll_Bridge_Up_For_Sale_In_Oxfordshire%3A_Buyer_Gets_Tax-Free_Income_Due_To_Traffic_Tolls">Sky News</a> 17 November 2009<br /><a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6917326.ece">The Sunday Times website</a> 15 November 2009<br /><img src="http://www.janetomlinson.com/journal/files/jane_sundaytimesbridge.jpg" /><br /><i>Pictured above: page 3 of The Sunday Times, 15 November 2009</i><br /><br /><a href="http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/news/article-1191272/For-sale-The-240-year-old-bridge-cost-1-65m-earn-113k-year-tax-free-tolls.html">The Mail on Sunday website</a> 7 June 2009<br /><a href="http://www.oxfordtimes.co.uk/news/yourtown/oxfordshire/4366651.Toll_bridge_for_sale/">The Oxford Times website</a> 15 May 2009 <i></i><br /><a href="http://www.witneygazette.co.uk/news/4366651.Toll_bridge_for_sale/">Witney Gazette website</a> 14 May 2009<br /><a href="http://www.thisisoxfordshire.co.uk/news/4366667.Famous_5p_toll_bridge_up_for_sale_for___1_6m/?ref=mr">Oxford Mail website</a> 14 May 2009<br /><img src="http://www.janetomlinson.com/journal/files/jane_tollbridgeforesaleinpaper.jpg" /><br /><i>Pictured above: page 7 of The Oxford Mail, 14 May 2009</i><br /><b>LISTEN >> </b><a href="http://www.janetomlinson.com/sounds/BBCradiooxfordtollbridge.mp3">BBC Radio Oxford news report</a> 13 May 2009<br /><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/oxfordshire/8047577.stm">BBC news website</a> 13 May 2009<br /><a href="http://scrapthetoll.blogspot.com/2009/04/bbc-country-tracks.html">Filming for BBC TV's 'Country Tracks' programme</a> 30 April 2009<br /><img src="http://www.janetomlinson.com/images/tollbridge/STT2009BBC.jpg" style="float: right; padding-right: 10px;" /><br />Above: filming for BBC TV's 'Country Tracks'<br /><br /><a href="http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/775151.hundreds_sign_toll_petition/">Oxford Mail</a> 29 May 2006<br /><a href="http://www.witneygazette.co.uk/news/740956.campaigners_want_5p_bridge_toll_scrapped/">Witney Gazette</a> 26 April 2006<br /><a href="http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/741520.ring_the_death_knell_for_toll/">Oxford Mail</a> 26 April 2006<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif0NL9z9Vm-s-dNINN6DXmqTf7g52MdLXUJRGBO7n2KrggRbKBjfgYqIKsgb71oZuQlxhJB0LYRAyk4aVTDSxz1qQ5cxAPfm3JaaNtTaqRvAM71jdIvy44Z314ZpHakAEBAFJrqLpTCNM/s1600-h/jane_TVinterview2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 215px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif0NL9z9Vm-s-dNINN6DXmqTf7g52MdLXUJRGBO7n2KrggRbKBjfgYqIKsgb71oZuQlxhJB0LYRAyk4aVTDSxz1qQ5cxAPfm3JaaNtTaqRvAM71jdIvy44Z314ZpHakAEBAFJrqLpTCNM/s320/jane_TVinterview2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5280473569104723474" border="0" /></a><p>Being filmed for BBC South Today talking about the problems caused by toll collection, April 2006</p><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Information for journalists</span><br />Email me <span style="font-weight: bold;">jane(AT SYMBOL)janetomlinson.com </span> now for comment.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6801128074150611507.post-46850150676362540092008-12-14T15:22:00.000+00:002008-12-26T15:24:35.813+00:00How it all beganI came to hate the tolls on the Swinford bridge in west Oxfordshire after prolonged and repeated aggravation.<br /><br />For 13 years I used the bridge first as a car driver, then as a bus passenger when in March 2006 roadworks elsewhere in Oxfordshire forced hundreds of road users to divert over the already over-used toll bridge at Swinford heaping more traffic misery onto existing traffic misery. Vehicles were queuing for more than an hour to pay the toll to cross the bridge.<br /><img src="http://www.janetomlinson.com/journal/files/jane_tollbridgelong.jpg"/><br />I couldn’t stand it. I moaned a lot to my husband - who works from home. I ranted on my <a href="http://www.janetomlinson.com/journal/index.php?id=58">website</a> and then I <a href="http://www.janetomlinson.com/journal/index.php?id=63">raged some more</a>. I seemed to be the only one <a href="http://www.janetomlinson.com/journal/index.php?id=92">publicly ranting</a>. And I kept ranting because I wanted to rant on behalf of thousands of others. <br /><br />I realised I'd started a campaign. Then I bought a motorbike.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6801128074150611507.post-86029693409857154162008-12-14T15:04:00.001+00:002009-05-14T18:48:38.058+01:00Facts about the bridge<ul><li>The bridge was opened 1769.<img src="http://www.janetomlinson.com/images/tollbridge/quotebox/quotebox1.jpg " style="float:right; padding-right:10px;"/><br /><li>Paid for by the Earl of Abingdon, the bridge is made of local stone in the Georgian style to replace a pre-existing ferry.<br /><li>It crosses the Thames between Eynsham and Farmoor on B4044 in west Oxfordshire.<br /><li>Oxfordshire County Council estimates that 10,000 motor vehicles use the bridge every day.<br /><li>The current toll is 5p for cars, 12p for single decker buses, 20p for double decker buses, 10p for vehicles towing caravans or trailers, and 10p an axle for lorries. The tolls were raised in 1994 from 2p for cars.<br /><li>An Act of Parliament, <i>An Act for building a Bridge cross the River Thames, from Swinford, in the County of Berks, to Eynsham, in the County of Oxford, 7 George III, c. 63. dated 1767 (Ref No HL/PO/PU/1/1767/7G3n22)</i> allows the bridge owner to collect a toll. It prevents any other river crossing to be constructed for three miles in either direction. <br /><li>The owners do not pay tax on the revenue they collect from the tolls, a perk granted by King George III in the Act of Parliament.<br /><li>An online poll in 2006 on the Witney Gazette website showed that 87.5% of voters want the toll scrapped.<br /><li>The bridge is in the constituency of David Cameron MP (Conservative), Leader of the Opposition. <br /><li>The last time the bridge came up for sale in 1985 the Oxfordshire County Council failed to buy the bridge by acting too slowly.<br /></ul>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0