§ 95. Sir Clive Bossomasked the Minister of Transport by when it is expected that sufficient experience will have been obtained of the incidence of breakdowns in all varying conditions on the Severn Bridge to enable the charges for the recovery of broken-down vehicles to be reviewed.
§ Mr. SwinglerThis depends on the build up of traffic and is not possible to predict.
§ 96. Sir Clive Bossomasked the Minister of Transport what arrangements will be made to consult interested organisations when the charges for the recovery of broken-down vehicles from the Severn Bridge are reviewed.
§ Mr. SwinglerSimilar arrangements to those made when the present charges were being considered, when 28 organisations and other interested parties were consulted.
97. Mr. Gresham Cookeasked the Minister of Transport why an automatic system of toll collection has not been installed at the Severn road bridge, as is the practice in the United States of America and other countries, instead of the present manual system which holds up and delays traffic.
§ Mr. SwinglerExperiments elsewhere in Great Britain have shown that faster transit through a toll booth is achieved by manual collection using modern equipment rather than by the automatic system. In the United States of America general speed of transit through the toll area rests on the greater number of booths, rather than on the speed of collection at each booth. Traffic delays on Severn Bridge over the Bank Holiday were caused by a number of breakdowns on the bridge.