(This note is not part of the Order)
Section 9(2)(b) of the Severn Bridges Act 1992 (“the Act”) provides for the tolls for the use of the bridges to be fixed by annual orders made in December of each year. This Order fixes the tolls payable for use of the two bridges, commonly known as the Severn Bridge and the Second Severn Crossing, during the year 2009.
The tolls will be payable only for traffic travelling from east to west and for vehicles (other than those exempted by section 8(5) of the Act) within the categories specified in section 8(1) of the Act. These are (1) motor cars and motor caravans, (2) small goods vehicles and small buses and (3) other goods vehicles and buses.
In accordance with section 9 of this Act, the toll for each category has been fixed by adjusting the amounts shown in the table in section 9(3) by the percentage increase in the Retail Prices Index between March 1989 and September 2008 and applying the rounding provisions of section 9(6).Section 10 of the Act has been used to calculate the revised toll levels to reflect the change in the rate of VAT for 2009.
The tolls levied in 2008 were as follows—
| Category 1 vehicles | £5.30 |
| Category 2 vehicles | £10.60 |
| Category 3 vehicles | £15.90 |