Just to be clear. There is no implication of any wrong doing implied here. I am still very keen to know more about how this bridge survives on such a small toll. Simple as that! Enjoy.
Just some guesses: 1) They could be running at a loss and offsetting profits from other income to minimise tax. This could be done perfectly legally, in certain circumstances. 2) Alternatively, another "angle" to consider would be an unknown number of cars paying an unknown amount of cash with no paperwork, this could allegedly be a way to legitimise a large amount of cash that may or may not be possible to put through other types of businesses.
@@PeterVerbeek Yeah, I think that's the most likely explanation. I never carry cash - not even notes these days. But I do have some pound coins in the car 'just in case' I need them for parking.
I used to work at the waterworks just on the other side of the bridge, back in the early 90s when it was literally 1p. If you tot up the number of vehicles going over the bridge, it adds up to a decent sum. But they also get a lot of revenue from commercial vehicles and public transport. The bus company would pay them several grand a month, iirc.
I actually used to work on this toll bridge for about a year back in around 2015 when I was 15 years old. Because of my age at the time, I was being paid £5/hr and often found myself receiving verbal abuse from drivers, having to redirect traffic whenever there were issues at the bridge, and even had my foot ran over on two separate occasions. I cannot tell you quite how happy I was when I was able to leave my job there and start working at the local Co-Op instead
@@bob1234881 I'm sorry, but as somebody who was working there at 15, no it's absolutely not. A 15 year old shouldn't have to deal with getting shouted at by random people on a regular basis, people threatening to beat them up, having their foot ran over, and then berated by their boss for "not collecting all the fares" as if the kid can control whether people speed over without paying or not.
I think the thing to be cosidered is that not everyone will have the correct money(5p) so if its "no change given" they will propablly pay 10,20 or even 50p to cross so the profits can be a lot more .
They do give change, certainly for anything under a quid - the operators usually have a bunch of little stacks of change made up in the booth for the common denominations so they can just hand you that directly. I've never tried to pay with a note though - I can only imagine their expression if you did.
It's worth noting that before they commenced the works to the rail bridge going over Botley Road in Oxford, the S1 and S2 buses would pass over the toll bridge. Currently only the E1 service does so. As the buses don't stop at the booth, I assume that Stagecoach has an agreement where they either pay monthly or annually. Whether that's the toll amount of £5500-6000pcm or a little more to help cover maintenance costs of the bridge is anyones guess. Regarding the hourly rate of cars, it's typically much much higher on weekends on account of it being a way into Oxford that avoids the A40, but with the aforementioned works meaning the road into Oxford itself is closed, the rate at which it is used is lower at the moment. I suspect if you were to recount the cars per hour once the works finish at the end of October, you would find that it would be somewhat higher than the 588 you recorded.
That would be correct ive spoken to the bus drivers on the S1 frequently about that and also the E1 as I live in Eynsham and its a known bit of info that they pay annually by working out how many buses will be going over the bridge and pay a lump sum
It is amazing that until the current route of the A40 north of Oxford, which opened in the 1930s, this bridge used to be on the main A40 London to South Wales route.
Regarding maintenance, at 3:14 the act says that 'They do not have to repair or replace unless they wanted to'. So unless its in imminent danger of collapse the owners wont be spending much money on it, although I suppose they need to pay a structural engineer to tell them, so costs are presumably kept pretty low!
@@pwhitewick You need to see the Thames in flood. 10 to 100 times the flow. And that money was heavy silver, get knocked off your feet and it's game over.
Not being up on the details leading to the English Civil War, I searched out "Ship Money" and discovered how deeply hated this run around Parliament psuedo-tax was. Not one of Chuck the 'eadless' better ideas.
Woollen clothes hold a lot of water; not many people could swim plus they didn't want to let go of the rich bloke's money, which would also have weighed them down.
The 2 toll collectors live together in the Toll House - so maybe there is some deal to be paid in kind? At rush hour this bridge can be rammed with cars - those 5p's coming in as fast as they can be collected. Some random days however the booth is not manned at all.
the astounding bit is that it's 5p not because it was fixed at a price many years ago, but because that was the price agreed with Oxfordshire CC, to allow them to make a small profit ...
@@handpaper6871 The original cost was 5d which became 2p at decimalisation. It was changed to 5p in the 1980s and I think it needed an Act of Parliament.
Ah yes! Isn't this this bridge where the toll is to cross the empty ditch that used to be the River Mersey and not, as some people perhaps think, the massive structure over the Manchester Ship Canal just round the corner on the same road?
I must admit I avoid the bridge as i don't like the queues that sometimes form on it...i go otherways:) Pretty cool that you were so close to my home, wish i'd bumped into you:) looks like you found something very rare in the uk...a sunny day:)
Went through there at about 4pm a few years back and it was queued back for a good distance on both sides, I was surprised you got such a high count at 12 so I guess the morning and evening rush hours push those numbers up considerably.
with botley road closed at the train station the traffic is a lot quieter over the bridge previously it used to queue into the village of enysham now at 8am you can go straight down and maybe queue for a minute or 2 if that
Just travelled the A420 past there today. Never knew this. I’m passing next week too for a break away. I’ll surprise the girlfriend. She will find this funny. Nice one guys
People who drive over it regularly have in countless occasions asked for some sort of monthly pass or tear off book which you can pay for in one go. I think there is a pass system for elderly and disabled who live in Eynsham, the nearby village.
Just read some more of the trip advisor comments, surprised no one has thrown one of the toll takers off the bridge if the reviews of their attitudes are true !
Been over the bridge umpteen times and nobody has ever been rude to me - or probably said anything except "thanks mate". Then again I've never asked to pay by cheque, or for change for a fiver, or to pay 10p on the way back because I didn't have any cash, or run anyone's foot over (as far as I know).
Conversely, there's a comment from somebody who worked collecting the tolls as a teenager. They say they were regularly abused by drivers, so it's unsurprising that they'd be in a bad mood most of the time.
Yes. Limited companies in a 75% ownership group can claim group loss relief for Corporation Tax. It's most efficient for the loss to be used by the company in the group who's profits are charged at the highest marginal rate. CTA 2010.
@@stephenrowley4171 Please Google group relief available for limited companies in 75% ownership groups. Losses can be used by other profit making companies in a group,
I suspect in rush hours there are considerably more cars. Oxford County Council apparently estimates the bridge is used by some 10,000 vehicles per day - so I guess that covers the wage bill. But, I would not be surprised to learn that the crossing is operated on a shoe string - which might explain the ill-temper of the toll collectors.
Well, even if they were paid well, look at the bigger picture. From the motorist's point of view, the toll amounts to paying a pointlessly small amount of money for the privilege of being stuck in a queue that only exists because everyone has to stop to pay the pointlessly small amount of money. Road tolls are very rare in the UK and a lot of people don't carry cash any more. Most of the bridge's "customers" are annoyed by the time they get to the toll booth and, apparently, many of them are abusive to the staff. So it's not really a surprise if the staff aren't all laughs and smiles. Also, the reviews are heavily slanted by selection bias. The majority of the bridge's users are people who live in Eynsham and think that paying 5p to go over the bridge to Oxford is a better deal than the traffic on the A40. Few of them are going to leave reviews about how the bridge saves them time at minimal cost. The reviews are posted by people who aren't from the area and are p***ed off and surprised that the toll even exists. All it takes is a member of staff saying something other than "thank you, enjoy your day" and a bad review goes up.
@@pwhitewick There are no privately owned publicly used roads or bridges. The only toll collected in Germany is on the Autobahn and it's only for lorries. If there was a bridge toll to be installed, the public entity building the bridge (for an Autobahn bridge it would be the federal government for example.) they had to found a publicly owned company that collects the toll for the government. And never would a toll be unchanged for hundreds of years. 🤣
Assuming the monopoly is still in place, as is the regulation that the owners are not required to rebuild the bridge if necessary (and in such, they're not required to deliver a service at all), wouldn't that mean that they kind of can blackmail the local authorities into handing over some 'voluntary' contribution in upkeep of the bridge? Apart from other government grants for it probably being a listed structure?
Like Warburton toll bridge over the Mersey "In January 2022, a cross-party motion was approved which objected to the proposals by Peel Ports to increase the bridge toll from 12p per rossing to £1. This eight-fold increase was also objected to by both of Warrington's MPs, Trafford Council and local residents."
The bridge at Warburton over the Manchester Ship Canal has been 12p since decimalisation. The toll was set by Act of Parliament for the construction of the canal at 2 shillings and 6 pence (half a crown), so quite expensive for the time (1890s). The canal company have now got the government to update the toll to £1, but the company have to carry out a load of maintenance first. The toll booths will be replaced by CCTV and one will have to pay via the internet. So why 12p as its less than a conversion of 2/6d. Well, you can't collect more than the amount defined in law, so the 1/2 p was never added on because it would have been too difficult to collect.
Thank you for these Maths. Compared to any business I've been involved in, these numbers don't add up. If every 4 or 7 years a crowd of masons show up and take proper care of those lovely arches? One more number to add to your enlightening equations. Today I learned about this 17th century tax code
Well I guess they will just add ANPR cameras and do like the Dartford Crossing, no more salaries on the toll booths, and fine people £100 if they don't cough up the 5p in 48 hours. It is kind of daft but one of the quirky things that makes the UK interesting, unless Parliament repeals the law, then it carries on forever.
I vaguely seem to remember a story that there is a many many years old contract that whoever runs this bridge was not allowed to change the price. So 5p may have made them rich 100 years ago, but now they have no choice but to operate at a loss.
Here is my possible theory (I preface this by saying that I do NOT live in the UK, nor do I have an understanding for how taxes (property taxes, income taxes, etc.) work in the UK). So it was mentioned that there is also a cottage adjoining/part of the property. I presume that this cottage (and whatever yard/land around it) would normally be assessed some sort of property tax (if it were not part of the bridge property). . If the bridge last sold for over 1 million pounds then presumably the cottage makes up a certain portion of that amount. If the cottage itself is not subject to a property tax (as part of the bridge), then the owner would save the amount of property taxes (that would normally be assessed on any other cottage/home in the area). So, in a sense, this lack of a property tax, helps underwrite/offset any costs incurred in the bridge. The value of the bridge is the tax exemption that it provides for the cottage. Does that make sense? Does my theory have merit given the tax laws in the UK?
I think you are missing the point. WE ARE ENGLISH!! We will do as we wish because we are not French!! Should I decide to buy the bridge and associated infrastructure and it costs me 60p to get the 5p you OWE me SO BE IT. I will not be buying the bridge any time soon as I am in the Southern Hemisphere on the other side of our beautiful planet being VERY ENGLISH and highly respected for it. Love your videos, thank you.
Is the bridge perhaps maintained by Highways and the toll is just a rent to the land owner? Might not even need to make a profit if it's in some way retaining the ownership?
@@pwhitewick But is it maintained by the owner or highways? i bet the road has been resurfaced there a good few times - would the owner pay whoever is resurfacing the rest of the road to do their stretch. So the land owner owns it as long as they collect a nominal charge but it's maintained by somebody else?
I presume that hour you spent at the bridge also included 6 double deck buses on the E1 service, shame you never filmed them as would be interesting to see if the bus drivers have to pay the 5p or not.
I wouldn't be surprised to find that the owners have worked out a way to get some historical infrastructure revitalization grants ( probably called something else, I'm not a Brit ) that turn the numbers from red to black, and the only record of it happening is probably in a database you have to know to go peeking in.
Could it be that the tax exemption can also be tagged onto any other business associated with the bridge. Otherwise I do not see how anyone can pay nearly two million to live in a roadside cottage and have a bridge to upkeep as well.
More questions than answers - after it was last valued, COVID hit and no one was taking money for years. Last week when I went over there were two people taking money. The calcs for two employees certainly doesn't add up.
Was that because the High Court decided that the "5 pence" stipulated in the original (still valid) Act did not differentiate between "old" and "new" pence? 🤔😉😊
I thought privately owned bridges on public roads can only increase tolls by an Act of Parliament. I’m surprised the owner’s haven’t applied to have this done but to be fair I don’t know what this involves.
I know nothing of course - But I feel that in one of the many ways that accountants can "tweak" things, this is some kind of Tax loss, some other business in a group of companies is offsetting somehow. As you say there must be continuous maintenance and Insurance to start with. There will be at least 10% of your regulars who are accountants Paul, hopefully they will pipe up?
Why don’t they put up the toll? The similar Bathampton Toll Bridge in Somerset charges 80p as does the nearby Batheaston Bridge. Is the charge controlled by act of parliament?
The Severn Bridge toll has now been scrapped. Maybe the same could happen here. It would reduce congestion, and thus reduce pollution from idling cars.
Nice local curiosity Paul. I had always understood that the bridge was built after George III got wet and the tax free status was granted as a result, but this is a myth. There was huge uproar a humber of years ago, the bridge was in bad condition and deteriorating rapidly. The local view was that the owners were pocketing the cash and not investing. This did come to a head and the owners were forced to make repairs. I believe that this was before the last sale. Like most locals I kept a stock of 2p as it was or 5p coins in the car. I very rarely us it these days. Surely there must be filings of accounts at companies house?
@@pwhitewick The answer is not easy, if you don't know the company or any director's names. You can be sure that the name doesn't include Swinford or Toll.
Maybe the centuries-old equivalent of a high street candy shop money laundering operation? And it's tax free! If HM Revenue and Customs could look at the books they may be reporting 120K crossings per hour. :)
If I wanted to not pay tax on the amount you quoted I would say it all came from the CASH collected too. That's why we have so many barbers shops and hand car washes nationwide. Cabs used to be cash. Anyway cash only businesses.
I’m surprised that they haven’t automated the tolls as that would speed things up and after the initial investment, would save money! A quirky piece of uk infrastructure-bizarre it still operates in this way!
Right but the initial investment would be enormous. Hundreds of thousands of pounds, and you'd still need somebody on site, so it would only halve your staff costs.
Don't know about English banks but Dutch banks charge you an arm and a leg counting your own money (especially coins) when you want to deposit it in your account. One more cost factor.
@@geirmyrvagnes8718 I thought large Canadian bank branches had coin counting machines, and they charged a flat fee to load in the coins. So, if you brought in a small amount of money the fee was "an arm and a leg", but if you brought in $1000 in coins the fee was tiny.
Is the tax free status relevant to the bridge income only or all businesses overseen by the parent company? Is it its own tax free enclave like the Isle of Man or Gibraltar being the registered office of some Global shipping or banking operation? 😎😇
@pwhitewick I have an email template from right to roam which can be sent to parliamentary candidates in the upcoming General election - I'd encourage all your viewers to send it to candidates in their seats!
I used the bridge twice a day for over 20 years. My earliest memory was that the original cost was 2p per car (from 1985) and that they had to get a court to give permission to raise to 5p some years later. The main point to note is that during rush hours the queues can be up to a mile long each way, so money flows in quite rapidly.
I used to work at the Siemens factory near this bridge. Travelling down from Northamptonshire some days the traffic build up was so great I would be forced to park my car in Eynsham and walk the remainder to get to work on time! A motorbike did solve the issue, but so did school holidays!
Have they considered making it an automated toll with sensors for the locals? I'm lucky that the state I live in is all electronic tolls now - I buy a pass for each vehicle I own, register the pass and hook it up to a credit card, and now I don't have to stop to pay tolls.
@@workingguy6666 I think the cost of the equipment and ongoing maintenance would outstrip the tolls. Vietnam has installed number plate reader toll machines on their highway system. It cannot handle the flows of traffic at w/e's and holiday's, the one near me handles traffic going north and is a main route from Ho Chi Minh to Vung Tau a beach resort.
My dad used to keep a stack of (think it was 2ps back then) on his dashboard specifically for the Swinford toll bridge as he commuted over it most days. God forbid you don't have the change as there's no way to turn round - bit like the Clifton Suspension. I've had to avoid taking the route more recently as I don't carry shrapnel nowadays. I think they do earn quite a bit from the numerous bus companies that drive over it, though I do remember from decades ago before they had the booth and the collector just stood in the road, where some poor guy got sandwiched between two double deckers which basically rolled him like a sausage and broke most of his ribcage.
Used this bridge as part of a daily commute in both directions for several years. 1. try counting at rush hours - the queues routinely extend for half a mile or more in each direction so traffic flow then is probably more like 2000 per hour. 2. Wikipedia quotes Oxfordshire County Council traffic number estimate at ca 10,000 per day 3. for change on the odd occasions I only had a 10/20p coin handy I would just say it was for the next car or three as well 4. if it suits the route you are on the 5p is sufficiently small to not be a deterrent - especially compared to the alternatives of using the A34 / A40 Peartree interchange which can be a traffic nightmare
Do they give change? If not they maybe make a fair bit extra that way. Firstbus in Glasgow (and likely other places) don't and used to have fares like 87p, but if you only have a £1 coin, they just keep the extra 13p. I'd love to know how much extra they made each year from being a bunch of .....
Hi Paul, What a quirky place that is!! At one time tolls were quite common, I'm guessing that they have been eliminated in the busy places these days. As far as I recall it was once free to travel to Gosport on the ferry for free but you had to pay to go to Portsmouth ... there was also a party campaigning for duty free on the ferry, it's a ten minute crossing, if that!! Lovely to see Rebecca!! All the best!!
I remember working in gosport over 40 years ago. I used to take my motorbike over on the ferry then ride home via Fareham to save paying the fare (15p or 25p I think) on the way home.
It's even worse if you're dragging a 16' 2" double deck trailer, it's difficult finding an alternative route that doesn't have low bridges. It doesn't help that on my Truckers atlas the A34 bridge over the A40 is indicated as being 15' 9", which I since established is wrong.
@@Sarge084Years since I worked in Road Transport, I then used 16’ 6” as the National bridge headroom standard so I guess that at 16’2” you’ve got a problem virtually everywhere you go.
Before the Oxford Northern Bypass was opened in the mid 1930s, this bridge was on the A40 London to Fshguard trunk road. I used this bridge a couple of times during my work travels, I even claimed the 5p toll as an expense. I don't recall whether it was actually paid, as I couldn't provide a receipt.
A car load of four of us pitched up at this bridge back in the late 1980s (main road must have been closed) and the only change we had between us for the 2p charge was a 50p coin which didn't make us particularly popular with the toll collector! It will always be 'The Tupenny Bridge' as far as I'm concerned!
One car every two seconds in both directions is about half the maximum capacity of such a bridge. One can see why the toll collectors are so insistent about getting your 5 p in a hurry.
I hope I can comment being a man, what a weird comment section so far! I bet most people give other denominations, a vast majority won’t be local so 20ps, 50ps, £1s etc
> what a weird comment section so far! I think that was a spambot that didn't actually watch the video. I agree with its sentiment, but it doesn't really have anything to do with this toll bridge. 😎
I just found your channel some great videos. Once a car in front of me paid the 5p toll with a fun size snickers In all seriousness as someone from oxford and the shire this road and bridge is busier and more important than you think.
Lorries are a little more expensive but motorcycles are free, also it’s not in the middle of nowhere it’s right by Eynsham and the road leads directly towards Oxford, so if you want to skip the overcrowded A40 at the rush hours it’s a nice alternative.
As someone who has lived their entire life in the UK, i have never heard of Eynsham. So whilst i agree it is right by a place, it's not exactly a busy metropolis, the kind you usually expect to pay a toll to access. Glad it works for the locals though.
@@orangew3988 It's really not that far from Oxford! When you take into account the limited options for crossing the thames.... it's a fairly major route in the area.
Except that in rush hour the delays on the toll bridge are nearly as bad as (or sometimes even worse than) the A40 approaching the Wolvercote roundabout.
I recall the bridge, occasionally, being manned by volunteers from various local charities and bikini clad girls would walk amongst the cars with collecting buckets - this strategy stopped the queues and filled the buckets!!
There is a toll bridge further downstream at Whitchurch near Pangbourne. According to the web that one charges 60p. They have a kiosk in the middle of the road with 2 people collecting. A May 2022 article on toll bridges gives the income as £190,000 pa Another one near me is the one at Batheaston near Bath over the river Avon. Last time I came through I recall they accepted contactless. TripAdvisor says it was £1 in May 2023 and the collectors are very grumpy. Again, another very old bridge. The same article says this bridge rakes in £1.3m pa
The Swinford bridge is really hamstrung by the need for an Act of Parliament to increase the tolls. I remember them going up from 2p to 5p in the 1980s. Nobody has tried since, hardly surprising given legal fees. Otherwise I am sure it would be at the Pangbourne/Batheaston levels by now.
If it's tax free, do they have to submit any kind of financial return? If so, is it ever auditted? If not, it would be a great way to wash a bit of dodgy cash...
Exactly what I was thinking. No tax return, nobody counting the cars. Would be so easy to fiddle…like hair dressing, or nail bars or even burger vans…..
Yes but so little cash as to be pointless. Typical money laundering you are looking at millions to tens of millions and up a day. Rather difficult at 5p a pop.
It's not cash laundering, it's profit reallocation. If the tax exemption applies to the body corporate (the company that owns the bridge) rather than the earnings from the tolls, then ANY income, for example from a number of multi-national subsidiaries would be free from tax too...
It is an absolute pain! The collectors appear to finish at 4pm at the moment but you can never be sure if they will be there or not.. There is a local rumour that it is owned by a French company although how true this is I don't know. It may appear to be a quaint thing in the middle of nowhere but it is used by many people to get into Oxford, especially as the A40 at Wolvercote is down to one lane. They spent millions (of our money) making the A40 two lanes, which improved traffic flow and then spent millions more (yes, of our money) making it one lane again!. So you can either queue at Wolvercote or queue at the toll bridge to get into Oxford.
If it hadnt changed hands, it could have been like the London Bridge Trust that continues to make charitable donations in the millions of pounds per annum based on interest and investment of money collected from medieval and later toll payments. But obviously there arent any investments like that in this case.
Absolutely fascinated with British history and the long-lived procedures and traditions involved. I'm one of the few Americans that view the history of the UK as a part of the history of the US. Since American history seems to be roughly Columbus, Pilgims, Pocahontas, Boston Tea Party, Boston Massacre, then the world being created in 1775, everything prior to the War for Independence is pretty much background noise😂I appreciate the lessons and travels that you two take us on.
Do they have the same policy that the buses by me used to have, of never giving any change? Someone scrabbling around for 5p they didn't know they were going to need may well proffer a 10p, 20p, 50p or even £1 then find out they aren't getting any change, hence the toll collectors may be collecting notably more money than was modelled for here.
A Canadian/American asks if one could pay a pound, and ask to pay for... you do the math(s) for the proper number of vehicles behind to cross? (particularly helpful in the congestion situation you called... "tailback...?"). (I love the, "you say tomato, I say napkin" game.)
Your missing loads. The first thing I would mention is that you most definitely picked a day with much lower levels of traffic than I remember being the norm. I lived on a traveller site by Siemens for a few years so I've seen it all go by. In the mornings and between schools letting out and closing the bridge is dealing with hundreds and hundreds of cars an hour in both directions. As others have mentioned the queues are extensive, especially going back to Oxford by getting on for a mile. Also I think you might be quite surprised at the amount of lorries and buses that use it during the day. With many artics and tippers using it throughout the day all of which pay by the axle. And what alot of people don't realise is that there is alot of lorries because of the 18t weight restriction on the A415 bridge at the Rose Revived. And there are really quite a lot of tippers from the gravel pits at Stanton Harcourt that can't use the A415. And on most days throughout the day there is alot more traffic than on your video. Even though nowhere near as busy as rush hour it's unusual not to see a few cars in both directions queueing for a few cars back at that time of day. Also as others have mentioned the A40 being closed due to accidents is an unfortunate, fairly regular occurrence. So they regularly get sudden influxes from one of the busiest roads in the country. To an extent that will give massive injections of cash. May I also suggest that if you do go back it's worth a wander into the village. Johnathan and Lucy run a most excellent organic veg and health food shop with lovely cafe and garden attached. And opposite them Ollie is running the most excellent off license with an amazing selection of wines, beers and spirits. My favourite being his rather lovely whisky selection. The village center is literally a five minute walk from the bridge. But if really want to get a feel for it turn up on a week day at 8am and start counting. I think that you'll be astounded.
@@brian_jackson why do you do that? You're basically picking on someone with dyslexia. I bet you were the sorta kid that made my school life a f*cking nightmare. Bullying and picking on people like me because we had to do extra remedial reading and writing lessons. It must be a sad and pathetic life you lead thinking that such pointless pedantry is clever!!!!
Just to be clear. There is no implication of any wrong doing implied here. I am still very keen to know more about how this bridge survives on such a small toll. Simple as that! Enjoy.
It's called - money laundering......
Just some guesses:
1) They could be running at a loss and offsetting profits from other income to minimise tax. This could be done perfectly legally, in certain circumstances.
2) Alternatively, another "angle" to consider would be an unknown number of cars paying an unknown amount of cash with no paperwork, this could allegedly be a way to legitimise a large amount of cash that may or may not be possible to put through other types of businesses.
Simple, people give more than 5 p.
@@PeterVerbeek Yeah, I think that's the most likely explanation. I never carry cash - not even notes these days. But I do have some pound coins in the car 'just in case' I need them for parking.
I used to work at the waterworks just on the other side of the bridge, back in the early 90s when it was literally 1p. If you tot up the number of vehicles going over the bridge, it adds up to a decent sum. But they also get a lot of revenue from commercial vehicles and public transport. The bus company would pay them several grand a month, iirc.
I actually used to work on this toll bridge for about a year back in around 2015 when I was 15 years old. Because of my age at the time, I was being paid £5/hr and often found myself receiving verbal abuse from drivers, having to redirect traffic whenever there were issues at the bridge, and even had my foot ran over on two separate occasions. I cannot tell you quite how happy I was when I was able to leave my job there and start working at the local Co-Op instead
This is how you avoid minimum wage, especially if young workers are allowed to handle money (which they are not in all countries).
@57thorns well, it is also a great way to get young people into work....
@@bob1234881 Yes, summer jobs are great for pocket money and to get some work experience.
However, there are a few traps there as well.
@@bob1234881 I'm sorry, but as somebody who was working there at 15, no it's absolutely not. A 15 year old shouldn't have to deal with getting shouted at by random people on a regular basis, people threatening to beat them up, having their foot ran over, and then berated by their boss for "not collecting all the fares" as if the kid can control whether people speed over without paying or not.
Was it not common for drivers to pay with whatever smallest denomination coin as well and not care about receiving the change as well?
I think the thing to be cosidered is that not everyone will have the correct money(5p) so if its "no change given" they will propablly pay 10,20 or even 50p to cross so the profits can be a lot more .
They do give change, certainly for anything under a quid - the operators usually have a bunch of little stacks of change made up in the booth for the common denominations so they can just hand you that directly. I've never tried to pay with a note though - I can only imagine their expression if you did.
@@richdmay depends though. Often they don't have the right change or can't be bothered
It's worth noting that before they commenced the works to the rail bridge going over Botley Road in Oxford, the S1 and S2 buses would pass over the toll bridge. Currently only the E1 service does so. As the buses don't stop at the booth, I assume that Stagecoach has an agreement where they either pay monthly or annually. Whether that's the toll amount of £5500-6000pcm or a little more to help cover maintenance costs of the bridge is anyones guess.
Regarding the hourly rate of cars, it's typically much much higher on weekends on account of it being a way into Oxford that avoids the A40, but with the aforementioned works meaning the road into Oxford itself is closed, the rate at which it is used is lower at the moment. I suspect if you were to recount the cars per hour once the works finish at the end of October, you would find that it would be somewhat higher than the 588 you recorded.
That would be correct ive spoken to the bus drivers on the S1 frequently about that and also the E1 as I live in Eynsham and its a known bit of info that they pay annually by working out how many buses will be going over the bridge and pay a lump sum
It is amazing that until the current route of the A40 north of Oxford, which opened in the 1930s, this bridge used to be on the main A40 London to South Wales route.
Regarding maintenance, at 3:14 the act says that 'They do not have to repair or replace unless they wanted to'. So unless its in imminent danger of collapse the owners wont be spending much money on it, although I suppose they need to pay a structural engineer to tell them, so costs are presumably kept pretty low!
The Act of Parliament might not care about maintenance, but their insurers and the Health and Safety Executive certainly will.
So four men carrying large amounts of money all simultaneously drowned in a relatively small river. uh huh.
Well..... I did wonder!
People were shorter in those days 😉
@@pwhitewick You need to see the Thames in flood. 10 to 100 times the flow. And that money was heavy silver, get knocked off your feet and it's game over.
Not being up on the details leading to the English Civil War, I searched out "Ship Money" and discovered how deeply hated this run around Parliament psuedo-tax was. Not one of Chuck the 'eadless' better ideas.
Woollen clothes hold a lot of water; not many people could swim plus they didn't want to let go of the rich bloke's money, which would also have weighed them down.
Wow!!! The big gun, Rebecca, came out to do the accounting - definitely looks like a boss good at counting things.
Oh yes indeed.
Another really fascinating video. Thank you both.
😊😊😊
The 2 toll collectors live together in the Toll House - so maybe there is some deal to be paid in kind? At rush hour this bridge can be rammed with cars - those 5p's coming in as fast as they can be collected. Some random days however the booth is not manned at all.
🤷♂️
In terms of minimum wage law, providing living accommodation can only account for 50p per hour of the minimum wage.
the astounding bit is that it's 5p not because it was fixed at a price many years ago, but because that was the price agreed with Oxfordshire CC, to allow them to make a small profit ...
But wasn't that at the time of the last increase, in the 1980s? They may have futureproofed it a bit, but surely not that much?
I thought the price had been set by Blackstone's law at "a shilling per cart" or similar...
@@handpaper6871 The original cost was 5d which became 2p at decimalisation. It was changed to 5p in the 1980s and I think it needed an Act of Parliament.
The Lymm bridge in Cheshire had (has) a 12p toll which I'm presuming was a half crown specified in statute & they never remembered to index link it.
Is it due to go up to £1 next month? It might just be a scare story to distress the residents of Lymm …
Index linking wasn't a thing until pretty recently. When the value of currency was tied to precious metals, prices didn't change a whole lot.
Ah yes! Isn't this this bridge where the toll is to cross the empty ditch that used to be the River Mersey and not, as some people perhaps think, the massive structure over the Manchester Ship Canal just round the corner on the same road?
I must admit I avoid the bridge as i don't like the queues that sometimes form on it...i go otherways:) Pretty cool that you were so close to my home, wish i'd bumped into you:) looks like you found something very rare in the uk...a sunny day:)
It was a great round walk we did. Lovely area
Went through there at about 4pm a few years back and it was queued back for a good distance on both sides, I was surprised you got such a high count at 12 so I guess the morning and evening rush hours push those numbers up considerably.
with botley road closed at the train station the traffic is a lot quieter over the bridge previously it used to queue into the village of enysham now at 8am you can go straight down and maybe queue for a minute or 2 if that
Just travelled the A420 past there today. Never knew this. I’m passing next week too for a break away. I’ll surprise the girlfriend. She will find this funny. Nice one guys
Leave a trip advisor review 🤪
@@pwhitewick haha will do
People who drive over it regularly have in countless occasions asked for some sort of monthly pass or tear off book which you can pay for in one go.
I think there is a pass system for elderly and disabled who live in Eynsham, the nearby village.
Just read some more of the trip advisor comments, surprised no one has thrown one of the toll takers off the bridge if the reviews of their attitudes are true !
Yeah. I coukd have included anyone of MANY!
Been over the bridge umpteen times and nobody has ever been rude to me - or probably said anything except "thanks mate". Then again I've never asked to pay by cheque, or for change for a fiver, or to pay 10p on the way back because I didn't have any cash, or run anyone's foot over (as far as I know).
Conversely, there's a comment from somebody who worked collecting the tolls as a teenager. They say they were regularly abused by drivers, so it's unsurprising that they'd be in a bad mood most of the time.
"For whom the bridge tolls..."
Can a business that's operating at a loss be used to offset the taxes of another business that's operating in the black?
Purely in my opinion.. nope
Tax offsets don't really work like that.
@@stephenrowley4171 I'm from the US and that's valid as you're taxed on your total income after deductions.
Yes. Limited companies in a 75% ownership group can claim group loss relief for Corporation Tax. It's most efficient for the loss to be used by the company in the group who's profits are charged at the highest marginal rate. CTA 2010.
@@stephenrowley4171 Please Google group relief available for limited companies in 75% ownership groups. Losses can be used by other profit making companies in a group,
I seem to remember that there is a similar bridge toll in North Wales.
Ooooh. Pray tell
I suspect in rush hours there are considerably more cars. Oxford County Council apparently estimates the bridge is used by some 10,000 vehicles per day - so I guess that covers the wage bill. But, I would not be surprised to learn that the crossing is operated on a shoe string - which might explain the ill-temper of the toll collectors.
Well, even if they were paid well, look at the bigger picture. From the motorist's point of view, the toll amounts to paying a pointlessly small amount of money for the privilege of being stuck in a queue that only exists because everyone has to stop to pay the pointlessly small amount of money. Road tolls are very rare in the UK and a lot of people don't carry cash any more. Most of the bridge's "customers" are annoyed by the time they get to the toll booth and, apparently, many of them are abusive to the staff. So it's not really a surprise if the staff aren't all laughs and smiles.
Also, the reviews are heavily slanted by selection bias. The majority of the bridge's users are people who live in Eynsham and think that paying 5p to go over the bridge to Oxford is a better deal than the traffic on the A40. Few of them are going to leave reviews about how the bridge saves them time at minimal cost. The reviews are posted by people who aren't from the area and are p***ed off and surprised that the toll even exists. All it takes is a member of staff saying something other than "thank you, enjoy your day" and a bad review goes up.
Lovely video. I love these quirks of rural England. Such a bridge would be impossible in Germany.
Why so?
@@pwhitewick There are no privately owned publicly used roads or bridges. The only toll collected in Germany is on the Autobahn and it's only for lorries. If there was a bridge toll to be installed, the public entity building the bridge (for an Autobahn bridge it would be the federal government for example.) they had to found a publicly owned company that collects the toll for the government.
And never would a toll be unchanged for hundreds of years. 🤣
@@smallsleepyrascalcat The Nurburgring would like to disagree
Not a publicly useable road.
Really enjoyed that thanks. Please take care
How many have noticed that in your intro sequence, all the cars are going backwards 😂😂
Impressive huh
Perhaps the bridge owners pay them for crossing backwards?
They didn't have 5p on them and had to reverse. :-)
Does that mean they get given 5p?
Assuming the monopoly is still in place, as is the regulation that the owners are not required to rebuild the bridge if necessary (and in such, they're not required to deliver a service at all), wouldn't that mean that they kind of can blackmail the local authorities into handing over some 'voluntary' contribution in upkeep of the bridge? Apart from other government grants for it probably being a listed structure?
No
Like Warburton toll bridge over the Mersey "In January 2022, a cross-party motion was approved which objected to the proposals by Peel Ports to increase the bridge toll from 12p per rossing to £1. This eight-fold increase was also objected to by both of Warrington's MPs, Trafford Council and local residents."
Ending remarks Paul, No Rates to pay, they are a Tax!
Nice Work & Video 👍
There aren’t that many (privately owned) toll bridges in England AFAIAA.
Yup
Whitney Bridge, Whitney-on-Wye, Hereford HR3 6EW
@@peterbustin3662 Yes, been across it a few times. And a handful of others I think.
Dunham Toll Bridge, Lincoln
@@peterbustin3662 Take the wrong turning out of Hay-on-Wye and you will end up on this bridge.
Stationery for letters. Stationary for not moving.
Think of the ar in car 😊
The bridge at Warburton over the Manchester Ship Canal has been 12p since decimalisation. The toll was set by Act of Parliament for the construction of the canal at 2 shillings and 6 pence (half a crown), so quite expensive for the time (1890s). The canal company have now got the government to update the toll to £1, but the company have to carry out a load of maintenance first. The toll booths will be replaced by CCTV and one will have to pay via the internet.
So why 12p as its less than a conversion of 2/6d. Well, you can't collect more than the amount defined in law, so the 1/2 p was never added on because it would have been too difficult to collect.
Wonderful story.
As for turn over figure I suspect there may be a government grant involved.
Hmmm, re the gross taken in 1 year, seems a bit dubious! Haha. I love it, Paul, that you take on these little challenges! 😂
im sure plenty of drivers just chuck in a 10, 20 or 50p maybe even the odd quid, i wouldn't want a bag full of 5ps back.
Thank you for these Maths. Compared to any business I've been involved in, these numbers don't add up. If every 4 or 7 years a crowd of masons show up and take proper care of those lovely arches? One more number to add to your enlightening equations. Today I learned about this 17th century tax code
Well I guess they will just add ANPR cameras and do like the Dartford Crossing, no more salaries on the toll booths, and fine people £100 if they don't cough up the 5p in 48 hours.
It is kind of daft but one of the quirky things that makes the UK interesting, unless Parliament repeals the law, then it carries on forever.
I vaguely seem to remember a story that there is a many many years old contract that whoever runs this bridge was not allowed to change the price. So 5p may have made them rich 100 years ago, but now they have no choice but to operate at a loss.
It's not a contract: it's an Act of Parliament.
@@beeble2003 Thank you for correcting that, I wasn't entirely sure.
that road is extreamly busy road i used it on ocassion driving from bordon to glasgow
Here is my possible theory (I preface this by saying that I do NOT live in the UK, nor do I have an understanding for how taxes (property taxes, income taxes, etc.) work in the UK).
So it was mentioned that there is also a cottage adjoining/part of the property.
I presume that this cottage (and whatever yard/land around it) would normally be assessed some sort of property tax (if it were not part of the bridge property). . If the bridge last sold for over 1 million pounds then presumably the cottage makes up a certain portion of that amount. If the cottage itself is not subject to a property tax (as part of the bridge), then the owner would save the amount of property taxes (that would normally be assessed on any other cottage/home in the area).
So, in a sense, this lack of a property tax, helps underwrite/offset any costs incurred in the bridge.
The value of the bridge is the tax exemption that it provides for the cottage.
Does that make sense?
Does my theory have merit given the tax laws in the UK?
Thank you. I will let someone more qualified than me answer!
I think you are missing the point. WE ARE ENGLISH!! We will do as we wish because we are not French!! Should I decide to buy the bridge and associated infrastructure and it costs me 60p to get the 5p you OWE me SO BE IT. I will not be buying the bridge any time soon as I am in the Southern Hemisphere on the other side of our beautiful planet being VERY ENGLISH and highly respected for it. Love your videos, thank you.
Wow , that’s one for the books , only 5p , regards mark
Daren't go anywhere near its narrow lanes and intimidating kerbs since getting a 7 Series 😁
It is a pain in the arse,! Lorries get stuck trying to pass, it is widely known that when the tolls are not collected the traffic flows freely.
Yuuup
theres another one of these outside liverpool owned by peel ports, i think that ones about 15p
Is the bridge perhaps maintained by Highways and the toll is just a rent to the land owner? Might not even need to make a profit if it's in some way retaining the ownership?
Nope, fully owned by the last person that purchased it.
@@pwhitewick But is it maintained by the owner or highways? i bet the road has been resurfaced there a good few times - would the owner pay whoever is resurfacing the rest of the road to do their stretch. So the land owner owns it as long as they collect a nominal charge but it's maintained by somebody else?
I presume that hour you spent at the bridge also included 6 double deck buses on the E1 service, shame you never filmed them as would be interesting to see if the bus drivers have to pay the 5p or not.
Kew Gardens charged one penny until Margaret Thatcher arrived. .
I wouldn't be surprised to find that the owners have worked out a way to get some historical infrastructure revitalization grants ( probably called something else, I'm not a Brit ) that turn the numbers from red to black, and the only record of it happening is probably in a database you have to know to go peeking in.
Well yes, Artistically speaking, black is an easy colour to achieve. I'm not an artist though
@@sianwarwick633 oh come now just because I'm a father doesn't mean I need all the dad jokes lol
Could it be that the tax exemption can also be tagged onto any other business associated with the bridge. Otherwise I do not see how anyone can pay nearly two million to live in a roadside cottage and have a bridge to upkeep as well.
The cottage is also rented out
peak time is both rush hours to and from Oxford.
You forgot the cost of feeding the Troll.................................
More questions than answers - after it was last valued, COVID hit and no one was taking money for years. Last week when I went over there were two people taking money. The calcs for two employees certainly doesn't add up.
Hmm. I wonder what they do if you can't / don't pay, given there's no opportunity to turn around. I imagine those penalties could be quite profitable.
Now....if you lived in the area you would have been outraged when the Toll went up from 2d to 5 new pence - an increase of 600%. Scandalous. :-))
Was that because the High Court decided that the "5 pence" stipulated in the original (still valid) Act did not differentiate between "old" and "new" pence? 🤔😉😊
I thought privately owned bridges on public roads can only increase tolls by an Act of Parliament. I’m surprised the owner’s haven’t applied to have this done but to be fair I don’t know what this involves.
They have indeed applied. But it was refused.
It involves the government of the entire country stopping for at least half an hour, to vote on some bridge just outside Oxford.
I know nothing of course - But I feel that in one of the many ways that accountants can "tweak" things, this is some kind of Tax loss, some other business in a group of companies is offsetting somehow. As you say there must be continuous maintenance and Insurance to start with. There will be at least 10% of your regulars who are accountants Paul, hopefully they will pipe up?
Why don’t they put up the toll? The similar Bathampton Toll Bridge in Somerset charges 80p as does the nearby Batheaston Bridge. Is the charge controlled by act of parliament?
I expect they would need an act of parliament to do so and that may open up a can of worms perhaps, im no expert just a thought.
Spot on. And the judgement was... no
The Severn Bridge toll has now been scrapped. Maybe the same could happen here. It would reduce congestion, and thus reduce pollution from idling cars.
Fun video enjoyed it thank you.
Our pleasure!
Nice local curiosity Paul. I had always understood that the bridge was built after George III got wet and the tax free status was granted as a result, but this is a myth. There was huge uproar a humber of years ago, the bridge was in bad condition and deteriorating rapidly. The local view was that the owners were pocketing the cash and not investing. This did come to a head and the owners were forced to make repairs. I believe that this was before the last sale. Like most locals I kept a stock of 2p as it was or 5p coins in the car. I very rarely us it these days.
Surely there must be filings of accounts at companies house?
I am sure there is... its just what company to look for.
@@pwhitewick Good point! I will ask my better half if she has any ideas on how to find it.
@@pwhitewick The answer is not easy, if you don't know the company or any director's names. You can be sure that the name doesn't include Swinford or Toll.
Does the tax free cover the owner of the house, in which case if it was his main residence, any monies he earned wouldn't be taxed.
Maybe the centuries-old equivalent of a high street candy shop money laundering operation? And it's tax free! If HM Revenue and Customs could look at the books they may be reporting 120K crossings per hour. :)
It says something about the English psyche that finding 5p is an adventure! 😂
3:50 “building a failed motel”…? I’m not surprised it failed when it was built centuries before the motor car! Do you mean hotel (or inn)?
If I wanted to not pay tax on the amount you quoted I would say it all came from the CASH collected too. That's why we have so many barbers shops and hand car washes nationwide. Cabs used to be cash. Anyway cash only businesses.
I’m surprised that they haven’t automated the tolls as that would speed things up and after the initial investment, would save money!
A quirky piece of uk infrastructure-bizarre it still operates in this way!
They wouldn't have a chance to shout at people.
Right but the initial investment would be enormous. Hundreds of thousands of pounds, and you'd still need somebody on site, so it would only halve your staff costs.
I reckon they might get more revenue from using an Honesty Box!
The answer is Stagecoach and the subsidies paid for their operation!
Don't know about English banks but Dutch banks charge you an arm and a leg counting your own money (especially coins) when you want to deposit it in your account. One more cost factor.
They definitely should if you ask me. Handling that amount of coins is hard work.
@@geirmyrvagnes8718 I thought large Canadian bank branches had coin counting machines, and they charged a flat fee to load in the coins. So, if you brought in a small amount of money the fee was "an arm and a leg", but if you brought in $1000 in coins the fee was tiny.
Is the tax free status relevant to the bridge income only or all businesses overseen by the parent company? Is it its own tax free enclave like the Isle of Man or Gibraltar being the registered office of some Global shipping or banking operation? 😎😇
As I understand, all business operations.
its a Tax thing, no inhertance or capital gains,
Can you explain further?
@@pwhitewick Its technically a tax haven because of the original act,
Is there tax on the manor?
@pwhitewick I have an email template from right to roam which can be sent to parliamentary candidates in the upcoming General election - I'd encourage all your viewers to send it to candidates in their seats!
I used the bridge twice a day for over 20 years. My earliest memory was that the original cost was 2p per car (from 1985) and that they had to get a court to give permission to raise to 5p some years later. The main point to note is that during rush hours the queues can be up to a mile long each way, so money flows in quite rapidly.
Fair
I used to work at the Siemens factory near this bridge. Travelling down from Northamptonshire some days the traffic build up was so great I would be forced to park my car in Eynsham and walk the remainder to get to work on time! A motorbike did solve the issue, but so did school holidays!
Have they considered making it an automated toll with sensors for the locals? I'm lucky that the state I live in is all electronic tolls now - I buy a pass for each vehicle I own, register the pass and hook it up to a credit card, and now I don't have to stop to pay tolls.
Fascinating tale.
@@workingguy6666 I think the cost of the equipment and ongoing maintenance would outstrip the tolls.
Vietnam has installed number plate reader toll machines on their highway system. It cannot handle the flows of traffic at w/e's and holiday's, the one near me handles traffic going north and is a main route from Ho Chi Minh to Vung Tau a beach resort.
My dad used to keep a stack of (think it was 2ps back then) on his dashboard specifically for the Swinford toll bridge as he commuted over it most days. God forbid you don't have the change as there's no way to turn round - bit like the Clifton Suspension. I've had to avoid taking the route more recently as I don't carry shrapnel nowadays. I think they do earn quite a bit from the numerous bus companies that drive over it, though I do remember from decades ago before they had the booth and the collector just stood in the road, where some poor guy got sandwiched between two double deckers which basically rolled him like a sausage and broke most of his ribcage.
Used this bridge as part of a daily commute in both directions for several years.
1. try counting at rush hours - the queues routinely extend for half a mile or more in each direction so traffic flow then is probably more like 2000 per hour.
2. Wikipedia quotes Oxfordshire County Council traffic number estimate at ca 10,000 per day
3. for change on the odd occasions I only had a 10/20p coin handy I would just say it was for the next car or three as well
4. if it suits the route you are on the 5p is sufficiently small to not be a deterrent - especially compared to the alternatives of using the A34 / A40 Peartree interchange which can be a traffic nightmare
so £500 a day, thats reasonable
Oh how I agree with you. There's always a jam during peak travel time.
Do they give change? If not they maybe make a fair bit extra that way.
Firstbus in Glasgow (and likely other places) don't and used to have fares like 87p, but if you only have a £1 coin, they just keep the extra 13p. I'd love to know how much extra they made each year from being a bunch of .....
Hi Paul, What a quirky place that is!!
At one time tolls were quite common, I'm guessing that they have been eliminated in the busy places these days. As far as I recall it was once free to travel to Gosport on the ferry for free but you had to pay to go to Portsmouth ... there was also a party campaigning for duty free on the ferry, it's a ten minute crossing, if that!!
Lovely to see Rebecca!!
All the best!!
I used the gosport Ferry for the first time in many years and found out there is now a charge to go from Portsmouth to Gosport!
@@martinfleming7001 what , they pay you ?
I remember working in gosport over 40 years ago. I used to take my motorbike over on the ferry then ride home via Fareham to save paying the fare (15p or 25p I think) on the way home.
As a seasoned HGV driver I cannot think of a road so frequently closed as the A34 between Oxford and Newbury is.
Yup, absolutely agree
It's even worse if you're dragging a 16' 2" double deck trailer, it's difficult finding an alternative route that doesn't have low bridges. It doesn't help that on my Truckers atlas the A34 bridge over the A40 is indicated as being 15' 9", which I since established is wrong.
@@Sarge084Years since I worked in Road Transport, I then used 16’ 6” as the National bridge headroom standard so I guess that at 16’2” you’ve got a problem virtually everywhere you go.
Before the Oxford Northern Bypass was opened in the mid 1930s, this bridge was on the A40 London to Fshguard trunk road. I used this bridge a couple of times during my work travels, I even claimed the 5p toll as an expense. I don't recall whether it was actually paid, as I couldn't provide a receipt.
The best part of dealing with toll collectors is to sit there demanding a receipt!
Don't you mean a shilling?
those of us in BT (as it was) were able to claim our fee back on our weekly timesheet. :)
Impressed that you were working in the 1930s, can I buy your elixir of life? (Just putting 2 and 2 together to make 5)
A car load of four of us pitched up at this bridge back in the late 1980s (main road must have been closed) and the only change we had between us for the 2p charge was a 50p coin which didn't make us particularly popular with the toll collector! It will always be 'The Tupenny Bridge' as far as I'm concerned!
One car every two seconds in both directions is about half the maximum capacity of such a bridge. One can see why the toll collectors are so insistent about getting your 5 p in a hurry.
I hope I can comment being a man, what a weird comment section so far!
I bet most people give other denominations, a vast majority won’t be local so 20ps, 50ps, £1s etc
That's a great point
> what a weird comment section so far!
I think that was a spambot that didn't actually watch the video. I agree with its sentiment, but it doesn't really have anything to do with this toll bridge. 😎
@@AaronOfMpls yeah I know, Paul’s been getting it quite a bit. I was one of the first to comment so that’s all there was at the point of comment
I just found your channel some great videos.
Once a car in front of me paid the 5p toll with a fun size snickers
In all seriousness as someone from oxford and the shire this road and bridge is busier and more important than you think.
Welcome.
Lorries are a little more expensive but motorcycles are free, also it’s not in the middle of nowhere it’s right by Eynsham and the road leads directly towards Oxford, so if you want to skip the overcrowded A40 at the rush hours it’s a nice alternative.
True. I felt remote though
As someone who has lived their entire life in the UK, i have never heard of Eynsham. So whilst i agree it is right by a place, it's not exactly a busy metropolis, the kind you usually expect to pay a toll to access. Glad it works for the locals though.
@@orangew3988 I cycled over it once when I lived in Oxford
@@orangew3988 It's really not that far from Oxford! When you take into account the limited options for crossing the thames.... it's a fairly major route in the area.
Except that in rush hour the delays on the toll bridge are nearly as bad as (or sometimes even worse than) the A40 approaching the Wolvercote roundabout.
A cash business that is exempt from paying tax? What could that be used for I wonder😉
I recall the bridge, occasionally, being manned by volunteers from various local charities and bikini clad girls would walk amongst the cars with collecting buckets - this strategy stopped the queues and filled the buckets!!
yes on a bank holiday they open to local charities to man the bridge and all money collected goes to the charity
There is a toll bridge further downstream at Whitchurch near Pangbourne. According to the web that one charges 60p. They have a kiosk in the middle of the road with 2 people collecting. A May 2022 article on toll bridges gives the income as £190,000 pa
Another one near me is the one at Batheaston near Bath over the river Avon. Last time I came through I recall they accepted contactless. TripAdvisor says it was £1 in May 2023 and the collectors are very grumpy. Again, another very old bridge. The same article says this bridge rakes in £1.3m pa
The Swinford bridge is really hamstrung by the need for an Act of Parliament to increase the tolls. I remember them going up from 2p to 5p in the 1980s. Nobody has tried since, hardly surprising given legal fees. Otherwise I am sure it would be at the Pangbourne/Batheaston levels by now.
Whitchurch takes cards
If it's tax free, do they have to submit any kind of financial return? If so, is it ever auditted? If not, it would be a great way to wash a bit of dodgy cash...
Exactly what I was thinking. No tax return, nobody counting the cars. Would be so easy to fiddle…like hair dressing, or nail bars or even burger vans…..
Yes but so little cash as to be pointless. Typical money laundering you are looking at millions to tens of millions and up a day. Rather difficult at 5p a pop.
It's not cash laundering, it's profit reallocation. If the tax exemption applies to the body corporate (the company that owns the bridge) rather than the earnings from the tolls, then ANY income, for example from a number of multi-national subsidiaries would be free from tax too...
It is an absolute pain! The collectors appear to finish at 4pm at the moment but you can never be sure if they will be there or not.. There is a local rumour that it is owned by a French company although how true this is I don't know. It may appear to be a quaint thing in the middle of nowhere but it is used by many people to get into Oxford, especially as the A40 at Wolvercote is down to one lane. They spent millions (of our money) making the A40 two lanes, which improved traffic flow and then spent millions more (yes, of our money) making it one lane again!. So you can either queue at Wolvercote or queue at the toll bridge to get into Oxford.
This one was fascinating, and fun. You do find some great subjects to keep us..er..subjects of yours... entertained.
Thank you kindly!
I’ve used that toll before and never gave the viability a second thought - I like the way your mind works, Paul!
I wonder if theres a launderette on the bridge
If it hadnt changed hands, it could have been like the London Bridge Trust that continues to make charitable donations in the millions of pounds per annum based on interest and investment of money collected from medieval and later toll payments. But obviously there arent any investments like that in this case.
Quality analysis. That's why we're here
Thanks Sian
More traffic on holidays and school hours.
Yup
It has been known to allow charities collect the tolls for their causes on Bank holidays.
Absolutely fascinated with British history and the long-lived procedures and traditions involved. I'm one of the few Americans that view the history of the UK as a part of the history of the US. Since American history seems to be roughly Columbus, Pilgims, Pocahontas, Boston Tea Party, Boston Massacre, then the world being created in 1775, everything prior to the War for Independence is pretty much background noise😂I appreciate the lessons and travels that you two take us on.
great video again Paul , well done and thank you 😊
Very welcome
Do they have the same policy that the buses by me used to have, of never giving any change? Someone scrabbling around for 5p they didn't know they were going to need may well proffer a 10p, 20p, 50p or even £1 then find out they aren't getting any change, hence the toll collectors may be collecting notably more money than was modelled for here.
Thats a great point. I think so!
Depends if the person in the booth takes the tips. But yes seems the only way the numbers make sense. Or there is a Guy Richie style plot going on.
A Canadian/American asks if one could pay a pound, and ask to pay for... you do the math(s) for the proper number of vehicles behind to cross? (particularly helpful in the congestion situation you called... "tailback...?"). (I love the, "you say tomato, I say napkin" game.)
@@petitebiogeek Probably everyone pays, even if someone ahead pays for them. I doubt there is a legal obligation to abide by the drivers wishes.
Your missing loads.
The first thing I would mention is that you most definitely picked a day with much lower levels of traffic than I remember being the norm.
I lived on a traveller site by Siemens for a few years so I've seen it all go by. In the mornings and between schools letting out and closing the bridge is dealing with hundreds and hundreds of cars an hour in both directions. As others have mentioned the queues are extensive, especially going back to Oxford by getting on for a mile. Also I think you might be quite surprised at the amount of lorries and buses that use it during the day. With many artics and tippers using it throughout the day all of which pay by the axle. And what alot of people don't realise is that there is alot of lorries because of the 18t weight restriction on the A415 bridge at the Rose Revived. And there are really quite a lot of tippers from the gravel pits at Stanton Harcourt that can't use the A415. And on most days throughout the day there is alot more traffic than on your video. Even though nowhere near as busy as rush hour it's unusual not to see a few cars in both directions queueing for a few cars back at that time of day.
Also as others have mentioned the A40 being closed due to accidents is an unfortunate, fairly regular occurrence. So they regularly get sudden influxes from one of the busiest roads in the country. To an extent that will give massive injections of cash.
May I also suggest that if you do go back it's worth a wander into the village. Johnathan and Lucy run a most excellent organic veg and health food shop with lovely cafe and garden attached. And opposite them Ollie is running the most excellent off license with an amazing selection of wines, beers and spirits. My favourite being his rather lovely whisky selection. The village center is literally a five minute walk from the bridge.
But if really want to get a feel for it turn up on a week day at 8am and start counting. I think that you'll be astounded.
You're* missing loads*
@@brian_jackson why do you do that? You're basically picking on someone with dyslexia. I bet you were the sorta kid that made my school life a f*cking nightmare. Bullying and picking on people like me because we had to do extra remedial reading and writing lessons.
It must be a sad and pathetic life you lead thinking that such pointless pedantry is clever!!!!