Business chief says Forth Road Bridge tolls should not have been scrapped

A business chief has claimed tolls on the Forth Road Bridge should never have been scrapped and that the cash raised could have been diverted into a fund to maintain the crossing.

Jerry Stewart, co-director at Eagle Couriers, Scotland’s largest independent courier firm with more than 100 drivers, believes that removing the tolls in 2008 created the problems which resulted in the near three-week closure of the bridge.

Estimates suggest the closing cost the Scottish economy in excess of £50 million and caused devastation for those who relied on it for transport, as well as local areas reliant on the influx of commuters.

Mr Stewart, an industry veteran of more than 30 years and Fellow at the Institute of Couriers, said: “As wonderful as hindsight is, it is plainly obvious that the removal of the bridge toll in 2008 was a disaster just waiting to rear its ugly head.

“For starters it encouraged a boom in traffic, far exceeding the levels that the bridge was designed to cope with.”