As a gesture to embattled motorists Southampton City Council would have been wise to agree to a lifting of the tolls on the Itchen Bridge while roadworks take place on Northam Bridge in the city.

Their reasoning for keeping the tolls in place and unreduced in cost, as reported in this paper today (see page 8), is unlikely to find acceptance from the city’s drivers who have endured months of traffic chaos and delays through roadworks and pressures on city streets.

Stating that reducing or removing the Itchen Bridge toll would encourage more traffic to use the route and disadvantage local people living near the route is somewhat peculiar and, this paper would say, unrealistic.

Motorists who face 20 weeks of misery with the closure of Northam Bridge for repairs could ask why they are not being given more consideration.

Claiming the legal process to remove the toll would in fact take longer than the closure itself is alarming. The council has a whole legal department. Would it really take such a time?

After a year of traffic misery in the city this would have been a time for a friendly gesture towards motorists. It seems the city council has no such olive branch in mind as we move into the new year.