By Steve Bargeton, political editor

MSPs ARE to write to the First Minister and the transport minister demanding their views on the future of the tolls on the Forth and Tay road bridges.

The Scottish Parliament’s public petitions committee yesterday considered a petition on the matter from the National Alliance Against Tolls Scotland.

The petition, in the name of campaigner George Campbell, calls on the Parliament “...not to extend the tolling regimes on the remaining toll bridges (Erskine, Forth and Tay) but instead to take over the bridges and their approaches as part of the national road system and to remove the tolls forthwith.”

The petition was submitted at the end of January before ministers decided to abolish the tolls on the Erskine bridge at the end of March but to retain them on the Forth and Tay.

Last month MSPs rejected an SNP motion to scrap the tolls on the Tay bridge and instead voted for another review of the effects of tolls on Fife and Tayside.

In their submission to the Parliament NAATS claimed that the tolls were intended to be temporary.

“Tolled crossings were promoted at Westminster on the basis that the tolls would only be levied for a limited period during which the original cost of construction would be recovered,” they said.

“Some tolls remain because promises have been broken and the goalposts moved to keep the income from tolls.”

The submission also states that tolls are “unfair” claiming, “Tolling is discriminatory and unfair to the few who have to use these roads. Tolls are regressive and unrelated to income or size of car.

“They hit those who have to travel long distances to work and who already spend a disproportionate amount of their income on fuel duty and other road taxes.”

MSPs noted that the situation had changed since the petition was submitted in that tolls have been lifted from the Erskine bridge.

They agreed to approach First Minister Jack McConnell and Transport Minister Tavish Scott asking for their views on the future of tolls on the Forth and Tay.