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.
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.
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.
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'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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
fabtastic video of a bridge i have has to cross many hundreds of times for 14 years sweating on the old 100 witney to oxford and s1 service, i always wondered how much stagecoach paid in volume
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.
My sister lives near Pangbourne on the Thames and they have a toll bridge ( think its now 20p), which the locals use. More convenient than a large detour. Closed a few years ago for maintenance and caused chaos!
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:)
Reminds me of my childhood in Bristol 50+ years ago! Had to cross the Clifton Suspension Bridge which charged a 5p toll (1 shilling before 1971) per car. It was collected by a couple of guys with big leather pouches who sometimes gave you a ticket! Underground investigations showed they were pocketing about half the tolls! Next step - Harry Dolman (later Sir Harry) had a firm in Bristol that made slot machines and he sold some automated barrier systems. Later he kindly subsidised a new stand for Bristol City FC where he was a director and later chairman!
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.
As someone who used to live on one side of the bridge and had to cross the bridge for work everyday, They only collect toll during rush hour (8-9 am) (4-5pm) though not very consistent. And it's usually pretty old guys who do this.
Very interesting. I lived in the area until about 1970 and used the bridge quite often but I never thought about the overall finances. By the way there's another toll bridge between Pangbourne and Whitchurch which I used to cross on my way to school. How about a video about that?
Thank you, Paul. Most of the "silly" tolls don't his side of the pond have been eliminated of replaced by bigger tolls. Thanks for this peek at some English "quirkiness."
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,
As others have said, I think the main thing you're missing is that the busy time will be the rush hour. Eynsham is basically a commuter town for Oxford, and the two ways to get to Oxford from Eynsham are this bridge and the A40, which is notoriously congested. Friday lunchtime is probably pretty quiet, on average, because most people are at work.
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. 🤣
The S1 bus route between Oxford and the town of Carterton crosses the Swinford toll bridge, and those buses have a frequency of about 1 every 15 minutes in both directions. This is not the case currently as the Botley Road is currently closed to through traffic due to works being carried out on the railway bridge that crosses said road and the S1 carries on along the A40 and enters Oxford from the north rather than the west. However, as the S1 bus is a double decker and the charge for a double decker is 20p, therefore during regular service (before Botley Road closure) Stagecoach would have been paying the Swinford Toll Bridge £1.60/hr, £14.40/day, £5,265/yr (assuming 1 bus every 15 minutes for 365 days).
@@malcolmhenderson3866 However the toll bridge is only open from 08:00 - 17:00 and they therefore won't be taking any tolls before and after those hours. The bus does run all day and night.
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?
There's a little more to it. It's also immune from inheritance tax and capital gains. Approximately 4million vehicles pass over it per year. BUT repairs are extortionate so it's a miracle that the toll has stayed so low. It's a tax free house that pays you 200k a year as long as you can find a way to maintain it cheaply.
But why collect road tolls in a way that probably doesn't even pay for the collection of the road tolls? Would they lose the tax exemption if they didn't?
@@geirmyrvagnes8718 Not sure what you mean. The video showed the bridge making a profit even on a Friday lunch time, which is going to be one of the quieter times. At rush hour, there are long queues of cars waiting to pay to cross.
@@beeble2003 Even if you are very generous, the vast majority of the money collected is used to collect the money, so people might as well throw a coin in the river as they pass. And it even causes queues. So if you use a few million pounds to refurbish the bridge, or even whatever it costs to resurface it... It would not make sense economically on its own.
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.
I used to keep a whole load of five pence coins in my ashtray. The easiest way round forgetting change, was to take out the smallest coin I had and give them that for the next however many vehicles.
Its a two-way toll bridge which means that the vehicles are coming and going in an uneven fashion than one side, if it was a one-way toll bridge, the math could be done evenly and correct as that type can be counted evenly. When dealing with two sides coming at the same time its harder to count because there might be more coming one way than the other side
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
It's a major commuter route - the traffic is non-stop during rush hour. It's very surprising how many cars use it for such a small, seemingly insignificant, road.
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.
One of my proudest achievements was to get a Chicago toll collector to profanely cuss me out, due to my noting in detail that the tolls collected apparently don't go into road repairs.
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.
Perhaps the owners are property speculators. Any increase in prices would instantly increase the value of the bridge. Also making future increases more likely.
I still remember how uptight and cross a much older booth attendant was if you happened to arrive and find you really had no change whatsoever.still the job, in my opinion was a little slice of hell on earth.
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 suspect the tax free nature of the operation (and potentially the house adjoining) makes it worth something in council tax savings relative to where you'd otherwise live, so the 5ps are mostly just for the staff and so that you can't be accused of not operating it.
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.
Is the tailback not part of the idea? It's a great way to deter people from driving that way, especially with google traffic in there. I know a little village between Rotterdam and Delft that does just that, and they're getting a cut for bridge maintenance from the council, in return for 'traffic calming'
@@actua99 The only other plausible route is the traffic jam on the A40. And the only problem with the route over the bridge is that everyone has to stop to pay the toll. Aside from that, it's a reasonable capacity road -- it's a B-road, not some little country lane.
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.
5 (New) Pence is equivalent to an old Shilling. That would ha e been quite a sum in the 1800s and befroe. Therefore the questions are, who set the rate? When was it set ? Under the enabling Act were they allowed to increase it to keep up with currency changes?
Two things - obvious potential for money laundering, however limited upside - ok if your trying to cover a million or two, but impossible to scale upwards. Second you would run the costs through a profitable company ie staffing and repairs and keep the revenue separate a tax free expense free personal income.
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.
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
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.
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.
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
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.
I’ve used that toll before and never gave the viability a second thought - I like the way your mind works, Paul!
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
Quality analysis. That's why we're here
Thanks Sian
fabtastic video of a bridge i have has to cross many hundreds of times for 14 years sweating on the old 100 witney to oxford and s1 service, i always wondered how much stagecoach paid in volume
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.
My sister lives near Pangbourne on the Thames and they have a toll bridge ( think its now 20p), which the locals use. More convenient than a large detour. Closed a few years ago for maintenance and caused chaos!
Try 60p per crossing it hasn’t been 20p for years ! Still better than the alternatives
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
Reminds me of my childhood in Bristol 50+ years ago! Had to cross the Clifton Suspension Bridge which charged a 5p toll (1 shilling before 1971) per car. It was collected by a couple of guys with big leather pouches who sometimes gave you a ticket! Underground investigations showed they were pocketing about half the tolls! Next step - Harry Dolman (later Sir Harry) had a firm in Bristol that made slot machines and he sold some automated barrier systems. Later he kindly subsidised a new stand for Bristol City FC where he was a director and later chairman!
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.
As someone who used to live on one side of the bridge and had to cross the bridge for work everyday,
They only collect toll during rush hour (8-9 am) (4-5pm) though not very consistent. And it's usually pretty old guys who do this.
"For whom the bridge tolls..."
Very interesting. I lived in the area until about 1970 and used the bridge quite often but I never thought about the overall finances. By the way there's another toll bridge between Pangbourne and Whitchurch which I used to cross on my way to school. How about a video about that?
Thank you, Paul. Most of the "silly" tolls don't his side of the pond have been eliminated of replaced by bigger tolls. Thanks for this peek at some English "quirkiness."
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
Very interesting video and great to see the lovely Rebecca again if only briefly
As others have said, I think the main thing you're missing is that the busy time will be the rush hour. Eynsham is basically a commuter town for Oxford, and the two ways to get to Oxford from Eynsham are this bridge and the A40, which is notoriously congested. Friday lunchtime is probably pretty quiet, on average, because most people are at work.
I went over that on Saturday. Got family who live nearby. Always like when videos cover somewhere I'm familiar with.
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.
The S1 bus route between Oxford and the town of Carterton crosses the Swinford toll bridge, and those buses have a frequency of about 1 every 15 minutes in both directions. This is not the case currently as the Botley Road is currently closed to through traffic due to works being carried out on the railway bridge that crosses said road and the S1 carries on along the A40 and enters Oxford from the north rather than the west.
However, as the S1 bus is a double decker and the charge for a double decker is 20p, therefore during regular service (before Botley Road closure) Stagecoach would have been paying the Swinford Toll Bridge £1.60/hr, £14.40/day, £5,265/yr (assuming 1 bus every 15 minutes for 365 days).
£14.40/day at £1.60/hour means the buses only run for 9 hours a day. It's actually about 20 hours, and they run about every 20mins not 15.
@@malcolmhenderson3866 However the toll bridge is only open from 08:00 - 17:00 and they therefore won't be taking any tolls before and after those hours. The bus does run all day and night.
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
There's a little more to it. It's also immune from inheritance tax and capital gains. Approximately 4million vehicles pass over it per year. BUT repairs are extortionate so it's a miracle that the toll has stayed so low. It's a tax free house that pays you 200k a year as long as you can find a way to maintain it cheaply.
Oooh didn't consider the other taxes you mention!!
But why collect road tolls in a way that probably doesn't even pay for the collection of the road tolls? Would they lose the tax exemption if they didn't?
@@geirmyrvagnes8718 Not sure what you mean. The video showed the bridge making a profit even on a Friday lunch time, which is going to be one of the quieter times. At rush hour, there are long queues of cars waiting to pay to cross.
@@beeble2003 Even if you are very generous, the vast majority of the money collected is used to collect the money, so people might as well throw a coin in the river as they pass. And it even causes queues. So if you use a few million pounds to refurbish the bridge, or even whatever it costs to resurface it... It would not make sense economically on its own.
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."
Just have to love quirky British history!
I remember trying to cut a penny in half for the ha-penny bridge in Dublin. I was told that I could prepay my return, so all was well!
To be sure, to be sure! 😂
Very interesting video and a nice bridge as well. Had a nice day for counting cars as well.
I wonder if theres a launderette on the bridge
Ending remarks Paul, No Rates to pay, they are a Tax!
Nice Work & Video 👍
Just preparing a nice cup of lemon and herb when you’re video popped up
Fitting. Cheers
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.
More traffic on holidays and school hours.
Yup
Hmmm, re the gross taken in 1 year, seems a bit dubious! Haha. I love it, Paul, that you take on these little challenges! 😂
The Warburton road bridge over the Manchester ship canal (U.K.), near me, charges 0.12p one way & .25p for an all day ticket.
I lived near here, there's a very nice pub not far away. You could say that of any point on the map in The UK.
I used to keep a whole load of five pence coins in my ashtray. The easiest way round forgetting change, was to take out the smallest coin I had and give them that for the next however many vehicles.
Its a two-way toll bridge which means that the vehicles are coming and going in an uneven fashion than one side, if it was a one-way toll bridge, the math could be done evenly and correct as that type can be counted evenly. When dealing with two sides coming at the same time its harder to count because there might be more coming one way than the other side
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
Is there perhaps a local authority or Highways maintenance contribution helping out?
It's a major commuter route - the traffic is non-stop during rush hour. It's very surprising how many cars use it for such a small, seemingly insignificant, road.
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.
One of my proudest achievements was to get a Chicago toll collector to profanely cuss me out, due to my noting in detail that the tolls collected apparently don't go into road repairs.
You'd have a full-time career (and overtime) as a remonstrator to the Local Council Staff around here! IF you could climb out of the holes! 👿
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!
A cash business that is exempt from paying tax? What could that be used for I wonder😉
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 😁
A few ANPR cameras and a website. They could be coining it in.
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
I suspect that the owners can discount maintenance costs against profits elsewhere.
🤷♂️
So you're saying this is what we call in the US "a tax shelter"?
Perhaps the owners are property speculators. Any increase in prices would instantly increase the value of the bridge. Also making future increases more likely.
I still remember how uptight and cross a much older booth attendant was if you happened to arrive and find you really had no change whatsoever.still the job, in my opinion was a little slice of hell on earth.
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 suspect the tax free nature of the operation (and potentially the house adjoining) makes it worth something in council tax savings relative to where you'd otherwise live, so the 5ps are mostly just for the staff and so that you can't be accused of not operating it.
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.
It's likley the toll is a requirement of the land deed and perhaps any business with an address in the cottage does not have to pay tax either?
Look at Aldwalk Toll Bridge in North Yorkshire its 40p though
Kew Gardens charged one penny until Margaret Thatcher arrived. .
It has been known to allow charities collect the tolls for their causes on Bank holidays.
Is the tailback not part of the idea? It's a great way to deter people from driving that way, especially with google traffic in there. I know a little village between Rotterdam and Delft that does just that, and they're getting a cut for bridge maintenance from the council, in return for 'traffic calming'
No, tailbacks of motor vehicles were not the idea of erecting a toll bridge 270 years ago.
@@beeble2003 Now that would be a serious amount of foresight :D
What I meant was that the tailback could be a reason to _keep_ it a toll bridge.
@@actua99 I don't see the logic there. Keeping the traffic moving makes everybody except the toll collector happier, and reduces pollution.
@@beeble2003 The logic is that the people who are in the traffic jam each day (or google) learn that this route is useless, and they pick another one.
@@actua99 The only other plausible route is the traffic jam on the A40. And the only problem with the route over the bridge is that everyone has to stop to pay the toll. Aside from that, it's a reasonable capacity road -- it's a B-road, not some little country lane.
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.
I remember when it cost a penny (1d) to get into Kew Gardens.
5 (New) Pence is equivalent to an old Shilling. That would ha e been quite a sum in the 1800s and befroe.
Therefore the questions are, who set the rate? When was it set ? Under the enabling Act were they allowed to increase it to keep up with currency changes?
The cottage is also rented out
peak time is both rush hours to and from Oxford.
You forgot the cost of feeding the Troll.................................
Two things - obvious potential for money laundering, however limited upside - ok if your trying to cover a million or two, but impossible to scale upwards.
Second you would run the costs through a profitable company ie staffing and repairs and keep the revenue separate a tax free expense free personal income.
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.