Money wasted on more toll booths
15th December 1984, Page 20
15th December 1984
Page 20
Page 20, 15th December 1984
— Money wasted on more toll booths
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IF, as Nicholas Ridley, Transport Secretary, has said, the twin Dartford Tunnels are raking in money so fast that their debt may soon be extinguished and tolls abolished, it seems uncharacteristically wasteful of the Government to contribute £5m towards the cost of 12 more toll booths. Will the Government pay for the booths to be demolished when they are no longer needed? Or will they be sold off to private enterprise as tobacco kiosks or battery-hen houses?
Already the tunnels have once exceeded their daily maximum capacity of 75,000 vehicles without serious delays and a third is needed to cope with an expected daily torrent of nearly 106,000 vehicles along that section of M25 in 10 years' time. That is where the money should be spent.