OT: Rant: Severn Road Bridge

Had a bad yesterday; had to go to Bristol and Cardiff (in that order), so used the Severn Road Bridge. A colleague in bristol said "Toll bridge is £4.90", which as I had £8 on me I thought that would be fine. I'm in a Citreon Belingo van....so I get to the toll booth, bloke says "£9.60 please". I only had £8, I had no cheque book, they don't accept credit cards....so what did mr Jobsworth tell me to do?? "Hang on whilst we close the barriers, then follow that Disco over there, he'll take you to the other side of the motorway, then go to Avonmouth (about 20 miles away). There's a cashpoint there, get some cash and come back!"

I was made to feel like a naughty schoolboy, and all the drivers were incovenienced whilst they shut the barriers as I was escorted across the carriageway, big flashing lights on the Disco, so had a 45 minute 40 mile detour whilst I got some money. Thank god for TomTom who sent me straight to the cash point in the middle of Avonmouth.

Three points:

a) Why is it so damn expensive? b) Why don't they take cards? These days with chip and pin, the transaction could be done in less than 5 seconds. c) Why don't they have a cashpoint in the big office next to the toll booths? Even if they charged a £1 to get cash out, I'd have paid it instead of wasting nearly an hour out of my day.

Bet if I was in a Citreon belingo with seats in it (i.e. a car) I'd have only been charged £4.90.

Rant over.

Paul

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Reply to
Pacman
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I started a similar thread a few weeks ago as the last time I went through the Severn Toll in a 110CSW with a tyre on the bonnet, I was charged =A34.90 but I was told that it should be =A39.60 (because of the tyre) and was advised to remove it before I went through again.

It turned out to be related to the height of the vehicle above the ground at a point level with the front wheels.

The best story I heard was an HGV with a steam engine on it from the Forest of Dean turned up from Wales. The HGV driver hadn't seen the weight limit (75 tons) and had quite happily driven across. The guy in the booth asked what the total weight was The driver did a quick calculation and the guy in teh booth was told about 90-95 tons. He then had apoplexy and was ranting and raving about bringing very heavy loads across.

The driver, totally unflustered asked what he should do about it - take it back?

Cheers

Peter

Reply to
puffernutter

On or around Thu, 2 Feb 2006 11:53:11 -0000, "Pacman" enlightened us thusly:

of yer going to waste as hour anyway, I'd go up to gloucester, then A40/A470 or something. more scenic.

it is a fact, that from Thornbury to here (mid-ish wales) it's cheaper in most vehicles to drive up the M5 and then across than it is to pay the toll.

Coming up the M4, I hang a right at Swindon and go up the A417/419 to Gloucester, which is even better value.

Not so good between bristol and cardiff, mind... my routplanner from middle of B to middle of C gives 41 miles. Interestingly, "shortest" route doesn;t go all the way along the M4...

B > G > C it gives "quickest" as come back down the M5 and up the M4...

however "shortest" comes back down the welsh side, 89 miles. so not quite

50 miles extra, half of which is motorway... and your berlingo probably gets 50 mpg, actually, I reckon it might be cheaper at that. And compared to driving back to avonmouth, getting cash and returning, not much more time.

from anywhere much further north than Bristol, though, it makes no sense to go in over the bridge.

Reply to
Austin Shackles

In article , puffernutter writes

That must've been decades ago. ISTR they did charge both ways around the

1970s, but they haven't charged for leaving Wales for at least 20 years.

"Two nations now united across the waters wide, And all the tolls collected upon the English side."

Max Boyce?

Regards,

Simonm.

Reply to
SpamTrapSeeSig

I've often wondered about that, if you cross eg M25 Dartford, and find you havn't got the money to pay the toll at the other side, do they send you back again?

Alex

Reply to
Alex

I would have told him to go F**k himself and do a uey, I did that at the Tollbooths on the Humber Bridge with my Limo once.

Reply to
Larry

On or around Thu, 2 Feb 2006 20:48:21 -0000, "Larry" enlightened us thusly:

the dibbles take a dim view of going the wrong way down the motorway.

Reply to
Austin Shackles

Well I suppose I had diplomatic immunity anyway, they have not caught me yet cos they were not expecting that. Can't remember the configuration of the Severn bridge, perhaps you would have to reverse instead :)

Dammit though why would some authoritarian berk be so obnoxious as to suppose anyone would follow him to a cash point when the perp could slip off at any moment, I mean how far would he follow before he started wasting the companies petrol allowance ?

The only way to deal with people like that is to assert more authority than they presume to themselves.

Reply to
Larry

On or around Thu, 2 Feb 2006 23:34:01 -0000, "Larry" enlightened us thusly:

I think the point was "follow that bloke 'cos he's going to the cashpoint".

Have to say I'd be inclined to go the other way.

Reply to
Austin Shackles

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