Halton Council incorrectly dealt with Mersey Gateway bridge fines

People using the Mersey Gateway must pay the charge online or in a shop within 24 hours of making their journey

Halton Council was wrong to have delegated bridge fine challenges to a contractor, a tribunal has ruled.

A motorist appealed against 11 fines after crossing the Mersey Gateway which were upheld by the Traffic Penalty Tribunal (TPT), which found the council had incorrectly dealt with the process.

Drivers must continue to pay the tolls when using the system, the TPT said.

Halton Borough Council said it believed the decision was "incorrect" and would contest the ruling.

The £600m bridge, which runs between Runcorn and Widnes, has no toll booths, meaning drivers pay the charge online or in a shop within 24 hours of making their journey.

Merseyflow collects the £2 charge for each journey on behalf of the council.

'Disappointed'

The TPT decided that the operations at Merseyflow were also run by contractors Emovis, and said the motorist's fine challenges were dealt with by Emovis.

They found no evidence that Emovis was supervised by the council and ruled that this led to a "procedural impropriety", which resulted in the cancellation of the fines.

Anti-toll campaigners Scrap Mersey Tolls said the enforcement process "should be scrapped".

"Ideally there would be a full court case that would confirm the illegality and stop this persecution of drivers who used to be able to cross the river without tolls and the threat of penalties," a spokesman added.

Halton Borough Council said it was "disappointed" with the decision.

"Our message remains the same - there is a legal requirement to pay to use the Mersey Gateway Bridge, so please do so and pay on time," a spokesman said.

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