Skye bridge tolls scrapped after long battle

TOLLS on the Skye road bridge were today scrapped by the Scottish Executive.

First Minister Jack McConnell was due to mark the move by visiting Kyleakin, on the island side of the controversial crossing.

The bridge tolls were in force for more than nine years, after being introduced on October 17, 1995, and were bitterly resented by many local residents.

The tolls also earned implacable political opposition from the Liberal Democrats, whose UK leader, Charles Kennedy, has a Westminster constituency on the mainland side of the crossing.

Scrapping the tolls, which for five years have been frozen at £11.40 for a return car journey, has long been a political priority for the Lib Dems in the Holyrood coalition.

Their 1999 coalition pact with Labour committed the Scottish Executive to ending "the discredited tolling regime for the Skye bridge" by January 1, 2005.

But the Labour side of the coalition has no intention of letting the rival party take all the kudos, particularly as a Westminster general election campaign is widely assumed to be in the offing.

Mr McConnell was therefore expected to join Lib Dem transport minister Nicol Stephen on Skye today to ensure the Lib Dems don’t steal all the thunder after the announcement of the decision.

And in an deft political twist, Mr McConnell announced the tolls would be scrapped today, just 11 days ahead of the January 1 deadline.

• William Easingwood, 59, a fisherman from Dunbar, became the first driver legally to cross the bridge without paying since it opened in 1995.