DRIVERS will have to pay an extra 50 per cent to cross the Tamar from Friday.

There was fierce opposition to price hikes on the Tamar Bridge and Torpoint Ferry when they were first proposed last year.

But

the long-running dispute was finally resolved yesterday when the

Secretary of State for Transport, Lord Adonis, approved the plans.

That

means the cost of cash tolls on both crossings will shoot up from £1 to

£1.50 for cars, while those with a Tamar Tag will pay 75p instead of

50p.

Bosses last night admitted the plans would be unwelcome, but said without them the bridge "would have been bankrupt".

But

campaigners, whose backlash forced a public inquiry earlier this year,

said they were "surprised and disappointed" the plans had got the green

light.

The cash toll rises are the first for nearly 16 years,

while pre-paid prices have stayed the same for 13 years. The Tamar

Bridge and Torpoint Ferry Joint Committee, which runs both crossings,

says the move will stop its reserves from plummeting £7million into the

red by 2012.

That is largely due to escalating maintenance

costs, though campaigners blame some of the £60million in improvement

projects going over-budget.

The joint committee is only able to

borrow cash from Plymouth City Council and Cornwall Council, which

co-own the crossings, but both refused to bail it out.

Chairman

and Plymouth City Councillor Richard Ball told The Herald that without

a rise concessionary fares would have to have been withdrawn.

He said: "The bridge would have been bankrupt if we didn't have the rise. This is probably the least painful way.

"In a perfect world there would be no toll bridges, but the fact is that there are. Going into Wales can cost £5.80."

He

said the report compiled by Government planning inspector Alan Gray

following January's public inquiry was "quite complimentary" about how

the crossings had been run.

But John McGoldrick, of the national

Alliance Against Tolls, said he feared another price hike could be as

close as two years away.

"All the figures point towards that," he said. "They will soon be coming back for more.

"I

am very disappointed because it's a rip-off for the users of the Tamar

Bridge, who are having to heavily subsidise the Torpoint Ferry. They

are being treated by the authorities and the Government as no more than

cash cows."

A crossing on the Torpoint Ferry costs the business around ten times more than a crossing on the Tamar Bridge.

Fellow objectors Steve Miller and Ken Johnson said they hoped lessons could be learned from the drawn-out appeal process.

Meanwhile,

general manager David List added: "The current economic climate makes

any increases in costs particularly unwelcome at this time.

"However,

we hope that users and stakeholders will recognise that these increases

in toll charges have been deferred for as long as possible."