OT: Rant: Severn Road Bridge

Had a bad yesterday; had to go to Bristol and Cardiff (in that order), so
used the Severn Road Bridge. A colleague in bristol said "Toll bridge is
£4.90", which as I had £8 on me I thought that would be fine. I'm in a
Citreon Belingo van....so I get to the toll booth, bloke says "£9.60
please". I only had £8, I had no cheque book, they don't accept credit
cards....so what did mr Jobsworth tell me to do?? "Hang on whilst we close
the barriers, then follow that Disco over there, he'll take you to the other
side of the motorway, then go to Avonmouth (about 20 miles away). There's a
cashpoint there, get some cash and come back!"

I was made to feel like a naughty schoolboy, and all the drivers were
incovenienced whilst they shut the barriers as I was escorted across the
carriageway, big flashing lights on the Disco, so had a 45 minute 40 mile
detour whilst I got some money. Thank god for TomTom who sent me straight
to the cash point in the middle of Avonmouth.

Three points:

a) Why is it so damn expensive?
b) Why don't they take cards? These days with chip and pin, the transaction
could be done in less than 5 seconds.
c) Why don't they have a cashpoint in the big office next to the toll
booths? Even if they charged a £1 to get cash out, I'd have paid it instead
of wasting nearly an hour out of my day.

Bet if I was in a Citreon belingo with seats in it (i.e. a car) I'd have
only been charged £4.90.

Rant over.


Paul
---------

Pacman wrote:
> Had a bad yesterday; had to go to Bristol and Cardiff (in that order), so
> used the Severn Road Bridge.

<snip>

> Bet if I was in a Citreon belingo with seats in it (i.e. a car) I'd have
> only been charged £4.90.
>
> Rant over.
>
>
> Paul
> ---------
I started a similar thread a few weeks ago as the last time I went
through the Severn Toll in a 110CSW with a tyre on the bonnet, I was
charged £4.90 but I was told that it should be £9.60 (because of the
tyre) and was advised to remove it before I went through again.

It turned out to be related to the height of the vehicle above the
ground at a point level with the front wheels.

The best story I heard was an HGV with a steam engine on it from the
Forest of Dean turned up from Wales. The HGV driver hadn't seen the
weight limit (75 tons) and had quite happily driven across. The guy in
the booth asked what the total weight was The driver did a quick
calculation and the guy in teh booth was told about 90-95 tons. He then
had apoplexy and was ranting and raving about bringing very heavy loads
across.

The driver, totally unflustered asked what he should do about it - take
it back?

Cheers

Peter

On or around Thu, 2 Feb 2006 11:53:11 -0000, "Pacman"
<[email protected]> enlightened us thusly:

>
>Three points:
>
>a) Why is it so damn expensive?
>b) Why don't they take cards? These days with chip and pin, the transaction
>could be done in less than 5 seconds.
>c) Why don't they have a cashpoint in the big office next to the toll
>booths? Even if they charged a £1 to get cash out, I'd have paid it instead
>of wasting nearly an hour out of my day.

of yer going to waste as hour anyway, I'd go up to gloucester, then A40/A470
or something. more scenic.

it is a fact, that from Thornbury to here (mid-ish wales) it's cheaper in
most vehicles to drive up the M5 and then across than it is to pay the toll.

Coming up the M4, I hang a right at Swindon and go up the A417/419 to
Gloucester, which is even better value.

Not so good between bristol and cardiff, mind... my routplanner from middle
of B to middle of C gives 41 miles. Interestingly, "shortest" route doesn;t
go all the way along the M4...

B > G > C it gives "quickest" as come back down the M5 and up the M4...

however "shortest" comes back down the welsh side, 89 miles. so not quite
50 miles extra, half of which is motorway... and your berlingo probably
gets 50 mpg, actually, I reckon it might be cheaper at that. And compared
to driving back to avonmouth, getting cash and returning, not much more
time.

from anywhere much further north than Bristol, though, it makes no sense to
go in over the bridge.
--
Austin Shackles. www.ddol-las.net my opinions are just that
"Chuck didn't reply, so George swung round in his saddle. He could just
see Chuck's face, a white oval turned toward the sky.
'Look,' whispered Chuck, and George lifted his eyes to heaven.
(There is always a last time for everything.)
Overhead, without any fuss, the stars were going out"
Arthur C. Clarke, "The 9 billion names of God"

In article <[email protected]>,
puffernutter <[email protected]> writes

>The best story I heard was an HGV with a steam engine on it from the
>Forest of Dean turned up from Wales. The HGV driver hadn't seen the
>weight limit (75 tons) and had quite happily driven across. The guy in
>the booth asked what the total weight was The driver did a quick
>calculation and the guy in teh booth was told about 90-95 tons. He then
>had apoplexy and was ranting and raving about bringing very heavy loads
>across.
>
>The driver, totally unflustered asked what he should do about it - take
>it back?

That must've been decades ago. ISTR they did charge both ways around the
1970s, but they haven't charged for leaving Wales for at least 20 years.

"Two nations now united across the waters wide,
And all the tolls collected upon the English side."

Max Boyce?


Regards,

Simonm.

--
simonm|at|muircom|dot|demon|.|c|oh|dot|u|kay
SIMON MUIR, BRISTOL UK www.ukip.org
EUROPEANS AGAINST THE EU www.members.aol.com/eurofaq
GT250A'76 R80/RT'86 110CSW TD'88 www.kc3ltd.co.uk/profile/eurofollie/

>> ---------
>I started a similar thread a few weeks ago as the last time I went
>through the Severn Toll in a 110CSW with a tyre on the bonnet, I was
>charged £4.90 but I was told that it should be £9.60 (because of the
>tyre) and was advised to remove it before I went through again.
>
>It turned out to be related to the height of the vehicle above the
>ground at a point level with the front wheels.
>
>The best story I heard was an HGV with a steam engine on it from the
>Forest of Dean turned up from Wales. The HGV driver hadn't seen the
>weight limit (75 tons) and had quite happily driven across. The guy in
>the booth asked what the total weight was The driver did a quick
>calculation and the guy in teh booth was told about 90-95 tons. He then
>had apoplexy and was ranting and raving about bringing very heavy loads
>across.
>
>The driver, totally unflustered asked what he should do about it - take
>it back?
>

I've often wondered about that, if you cross eg M25 Dartford, and find
you havn't got the money to pay the toll at the other side, do they
send you back again?

Alex

I would have told him to go F**k himself and do a uey, I did that at the
Tollbooths on the Humber Bridge with my Limo once.


--
Larry
Series 3 rust and holes


"Pacman" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Had a bad yesterday; had to go to Bristol and Cardiff (in that order), so
> used the Severn Road Bridge. A colleague in bristol said "Toll bridge is
> £4.90", which as I had £8 on me I thought that would be fine. I'm in a
> Citreon Belingo van....so I get to the toll booth, bloke says "£9.60
> please". I only had £8, I had no cheque book, they don't accept credit
> cards....so what did mr Jobsworth tell me to do?? "Hang on whilst we
close
> the barriers, then follow that Disco over there, he'll take you to the
other
> side of the motorway, then go to Avonmouth (about 20 miles away). There's
a
> cashpoint there, get some cash and come back!"
>
> I was made to feel like a naughty schoolboy, and all the drivers were
> incovenienced whilst they shut the barriers as I was escorted across the
> carriageway, big flashing lights on the Disco, so had a 45 minute 40 mile
> detour whilst I got some money. Thank god for TomTom who sent me straight
> to the cash point in the middle of Avonmouth.
>
> Three points:
>
> a) Why is it so damn expensive?
> b) Why don't they take cards? These days with chip and pin, the
transaction
> could be done in less than 5 seconds.
> c) Why don't they have a cashpoint in the big office next to the toll
> booths? Even if they charged a £1 to get cash out, I'd have paid it
instead
> of wasting nearly an hour out of my day.
>
> Bet if I was in a Citreon belingo with seats in it (i.e. a car) I'd have
> only been charged £4.90.
>
> Rant over.
>
>
> Paul
> ---------
>
>

....and Alex spake unto the tribes of Usenet, saying...

> I've often wondered about that, if you cross eg M25 Dartford, and find
> you havn't got the money to pay the toll at the other side, do they
> send you back again?
>
> Alex

Back in 1973-ish I went through the Mersey Tunnel on my m/bike. The toll
was 15p (yes really) and as I had just spent the weekend with the gf in
Liverpool I was utterly skint - no cash at all. Not a penny. Just a full
tank and a packet of fags. I wrote them a cheque - no pounds and fifteen
pence ONLY. They were not pleased.

--
Rich
==============================

Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.

On or around Thu, 2 Feb 2006 21:32:39 -0000, "Richard Brookman"
<[email protected]> enlightened us thusly:

>...and Alex spake unto the tribes of Usenet, saying...
>
>> I've often wondered about that, if you cross eg M25 Dartford, and find
>> you havn't got the money to pay the toll at the other side, do they
>> send you back again?
>>
>> Alex
>
>Back in 1973-ish I went through the Mersey Tunnel on my m/bike. The toll
>was 15p (yes really) and as I had just spent the weekend with the gf in
>Liverpool I was utterly skint - no cash at all. Not a penny. Just a full
>tank and a packet of fags. I wrote them a cheque - no pounds and fifteen
>pence ONLY. They were not pleased.

reminds me of the doubtless-apocryphal tale about the bloke and the leccy
company and the bank.


Chap got an electricity bill for zero dollars, so he phones the company and
says "hey, your computer sent me a bill for zero dollars. The electic
company make some excuse, and tell him to ignore it. later, he gets a red
bill for $0 and if he doesn't pay within 7 days he'll be cut off. So he
phones up again, and they say "well, I guess you'll have to pay us $0" The
bloke thinks it's silly, but figures it's an easy way out, so he writes a
cheque for $0.00 and sends it off. A week later the bank ring him up. "What
the hell do you think you're playing at, writing cheques for $0.00 ??" The
bloke explains that he got screwed around by the electricity company's
computer, which sent him a final demand for $0. "Do you realise," the bloke
in the bank says with some feeling "what you've just done to *our*
computer?"

--
Austin Shackles. www.ddol-las.net my opinions are just that
"Something there is that doesn't love a wall."
Robert Frost (1874-1963)

On or around Thu, 2 Feb 2006 20:48:21 -0000, "Larry" <[email protected]>
enlightened us thusly:

>I would have told him to go F**k himself and do a uey, I did that at the
>Tollbooths on the Humber Bridge with my Limo once.

the dibbles take a dim view of going the wrong way down the motorway.
--
Austin Shackles. www.ddol-las.net my opinions are just that
"Festina Lente" (Hasten slowly) Suetonius (c.70-c.140) Augustus, 25

Well I suppose I had diplomatic immunity anyway, they have not caught me yet
cos they were not expecting that. Can't remember the configuration of the
Severn bridge, perhaps you would have to reverse instead

Dammit though why would some authoritarian berk be so obnoxious as to
suppose anyone would follow him to a cash point when the perp could slip off
at any moment, I mean how far would he follow before he started wasting the
companies petrol allowance ?

The only way to deal with people like that is to assert more authority than
they presume to themselves.

--
Larry
Series 3 rust and holes





"Austin Shackles" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On or around Thu, 2 Feb 2006 20:48:21 -0000, "Larry"
<[email protected]>
> enlightened us thusly:
>
>
> the dibbles take a dim view of going the wrong way down the motorway.
> --
> Austin Shackles. www.ddol-las.net my opinions are just that
> "Festina Lente" (Hasten slowly) Suetonius (c.70-c.140) Augustus, 25

On or around Thu, 2 Feb 2006 23:34:01 -0000, "Larry" <[email protected]>
enlightened us thusly:

>Dammit though why would some authoritarian berk be so obnoxious as to
>suppose anyone would follow him to a cash point when the perp could slip off
>at any moment, I mean how far would he follow before he started wasting the
>companies petrol allowance ?

I think the point was "follow that bloke 'cos he's going to the cashpoint".

Have to say I'd be inclined to go the other way.
--
Austin Shackles. www.ddol-las.net my opinions are just that
"Ask yourself whether you are happy, and you cease to be so."
John Stuart Mill (1806 - 1873)