Tyne Tunnel toll charge set to increase in May

Under the new proposals, the charge for cars will increase from £2.40 to £2.50. HGVs and other large vehicles will see the cost increase from £4.80 to £5.

Prepaid customers will continue to receive a 10% discount. This means the charge will be £2.25 for cars and £4.50 for HGVs.

The new charges will be put before members of the North East Combined Authority at a meeting on Tuesday. A report set to be presented to members explains the reasons behind the need for the price hike.

It reads: “The North East CA owns the Tyne Tunnels, comprising the two vehicle tunnels and the pedestrian and cyclist tunnels. The Tyne Tunnels receive no central government funding nor any local subsidy, with all operational costs and debt financing costs being met from the tolls charged to users of the vehicle tunnels.

“The toll charges are necessary to meet operational costs as well as the financing costs of the North East CA and the tunnels operator, TT2 Limited, which were incurred in the construction of the second vehicle tunnel which opened in 2011.”

The toll increase is calculated in line with the Retail Prices Index (RPI) measure of inflation, rounded to the nearest 10p. The RPI is used by the Office for National Statistics to calculate inflation by looking at a sample of retail goods and services.

A previous toll rise in 2023 was delayed due to concerns about the impact of imposing higher fees on residents during a cost of living crisis. But a report published last year revealed that putting that increase off from February to May 2023 cost more than £1m and could not be repeated.

It warned that delaying proposals to increase the cost in line with RPI would “significantly deplete” the tunnel’s reserves and “threaten the long-term financial health of the budget”.