Itchen Bridge toll dropped for electric cars

The bridge, which sees about seven million crossings a year, opened on 1 June 1977

Drivers of fully electric cars can now cross a toll bridge for free.

Charges on Itchen Bridge, which links Woolston to Southampton city centre, have been scrapped by the council to encourage the use of electric vehicles.

The move comes under new proposals to improve air quality in the city which is one of five forecast to exceed EU air quality limits beyond 2020.

Eligible drivers will need to present a SmartCities card to cross the bridge free of charge.

About £32,000 is expected to be lost in tolls in the first year as electric vehicles currently represent about 1% of road traffic, Southampton City Council said.

Online payments were introduced on the crossing in 2013 when automatic toll gates were brought in.

Drivers have to use cash bins, which do not give change, or pre-paid smart cards.

Fees to cross the bridge vary from 50p to £25 depending on the size of vehicle and time of travel.

Each year the bridge sees about seven million crossings with tolls generating an annual revenue of approximately £3.2m.