Clifton Suspension Bridge updates to contactless

Drivers can still pay the £1 toll using coins if they wish

Drivers crossing Clifton Suspension Bridge are now able to pay the £1 toll using contactless enabled phones and cards.

Payment will continue to be accepted in silver coins or with a £1 coin.

Bridgemaster Trish Johnson said she hopes the additional means of paying the fee will keep traffic moving smoothly across the bridge.

About four million vehicles cross the bridge between Bristol and North Somerset a year.

The new payment method is being brought to the bridge by NMI, a global payments software company.

Ms Johnson said: "With users carrying less cash and contactless payments becoming the UK's most popular and fastest payment method, it was of utmost importance to the trust to give our users the choice to use their preferred payments option and speeding up payments on the bridge."

Vijay Sondhi, chief executive of NMI, added: "We are proud of bringing together engineering ingenuity from the past with the latest contactless payment technology of the future."

The cost of crossing the bridge rose from 50p to £1 in April 2014, after bridge trustees argued maintenance costs had risen significantly.

The iconic toll bridge, which opened in 1864, was designed by Victorian engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel.