HALTON Council is adamantly refusing to refund or scrap any tolls on the Mersey Gateway bridge - despite a landmark ruling which said the charges were illegal.

The local authority is disputing the findings of a review by transport watchdog the Traffic Penalty Tribunal (TPT) which concluded that five motorists were not liable to pay the toll on the new crossing because Halton Council had not specified the exact charge.

Earlier this year a TPT adjudicator found that one driver was not liable to pay the £2 charge and a further 459 pending appeals were put on hold.

The council lodged an appeal and at a review hearing in May, a different adjudicator Edward Solomons confirmed the original decision to allow all five appeals.

He found that the failure to specify the charges "amounts to a procedural error on the part of the council".

There were a number of other technical and legal points, he said, that found the charging scheme employed by the council is not enforceable under the Transport Act 2000.

However, in a statement issued today, Halton Council said: "Adjudication by the Traffic Penalty Tribunal (TPT) cannot and does not, in law, invalidate or remove the powers in place from the 14 October 14, 2017 to toll and enforce tolls on the Mersey Gateway bridge.

"Adjudication is specific to the case being considered and any decision of an adjudicator only relates to that particular case.

"A decision of TPT does not have general effect and cannot remove the validity of the order or the obligation to pay.

"Any suggestion that the council has no power to charge or enforce tolls or that the council is acting “illegally” is misleading, inaccurate and wrong in law.

"Halton Council is under no legal obligation to repay any toll or penalty paid on failing to pay a toll.

"Consequently, Halton Council will not be repaying any toll or penalty paid on failing to pay a toll."

The council says that it had in place a valid and legal power to charge and enforce tolls on the Mersey Gateway bridge from October 14, 2017 to April 18, 2018.

And the authority states a new order which came into effect on April 19, 2018, continues to give the local authority "a valid and legal power to charge and enforce charges (tolls) on the Mersey Gateway Bridge".

A council spokesman added: "All vehicles that used the Mersey Gateway bridge on or after the 14 October 2017 were required to pay a toll and liable to enforcement of a toll if no toll was paid, unless exempt or they benefitted from the Halton Local User Discount Scheme."

And with respect to vehicles using the bridge after April 19, 2018, the council has commented on a new order, saying: "The 2018 order provides a valid and legal power to charge and enforce charges (tolls) on the Mersey Gateway Bridge from 19 April 2018.

"All vehicles using the Mersey Gateway bridge on or after the 19 April 2018 are required to pay a toll unless exempt or they benefit from the Halton Local User Discount Scheme.

John McGoldrick of Scrap Mersey Tolls said that "It is clear that the tolls at least up to the 19th April - when the council rushed through a new charging Order - were not enforceable. It is also likely that the 
tolls since then have not been enforceable." 

Scrap Mersey Tolls had already planned a 'demand refunds' protest tomorrow (Saturday) outside the Merseyflow offices at Howard Court on Manor Park in Runcorn from 9am to 1pm.

Mr McGoldrick added: "The purpose of the protest was to highlight the council collecting tolls 
and penalties which have been judged to be unenforceable and refusing to make refunds. 
"We hope that today's announcement from the council will 
encourage more people to join in our protest."