By Steve Bargeton, political editor

TOLLS WILL be lifted from the Forth and Tay road bridges on Monday, February 11, The Courier can exclusively reveal.

MSPs overwhelmingly backed The Courier campaign to scrap the tolls in a historic decision on December 20.

The bill to end tolling in Scotland received royal assent last week and it is understood that Transport Minister Stewart Stevenson will sign the Commencement Order today.

This means that the act will come into force on Monday, February 11 at a 00.01am allowing free passage over the Forth and Tay for motorists.

The transport minister promised MSPs that he would sign the order ending road tolling in Scotland “on the very first day I can.”

Typically there is a two-month delay between a bill receiving royal assent and implementation.

This has, however, been fast tracked by ministers in an effort to bring in the SNP government’s first piece of primary legislation as quickly as possible.

The date for lifting the tolls has been agreed with the Forth Estuary Transport Authority and the Tay Bridge Joint Board who are putting into place plans for safe commencement and additional measures to minimise disruption to road users.

The two authorities remain responsible for managing the bridges.

Both will be putting in place measures to implement the abolition of tolls, and to ensure that traffic continues to flow smoothly and safely.

Funding for day-to-day running costs and long-term capital works will be provided by direct grants from the Scottish Government.

The Abolition of Bridge Tolls (Scotland) Act removes the ability to charge and collect tolls on the Forth and Tay road bridges, it removes a legislative deadline for the Tay board to repay all its debts by 2016, and it repeals obsolete legislation relating to the Erskine Bridge.

The Scottish Government has also provided a one-off grant of £14.8 million to allow the Tay Road Bridge Joint Board to repay all of its outstanding loans at January 31.

Last week members of the Tay bridge joint board were told that preparations for lifting the tolls were in hand.

Temporary traffic lights and signs have been installed on the approach ramps on the Dundee side in case traffic has to be stopped in the event of an emergency.

These will be replaced by permanent fixtures once the toll plaza has been removed.

The £263,000 contract to remove the plaza has already been awarded to Cleveland Bridge (UK).

Plans for dealing with the traffic flow after tolls have been removed on the Forth Bridge involve removing three tollbooths as well as one of the concrete plinths so that traffic can flow freely on to the bridge.

The remainder of the booths will be removed after the tolls are abolished, when a new system of signs will also be installed and the ramp from the Echline roundabout widened to accommodate a bus priority lane.

Monday, February 11 will be culmination of a 22-month campaign against bridge tolls started by The Courier.

The former Scottish Executive’s decision to scrap tolls on the Skye and Erskine Bridges but leave them on the Tay and Forth was the catalyst for the campaign this paper launched in March 2006.

Tens of thousands of readers joined The Courier in railing against the iniquity of the east coast tolls.

The political argument, which gradually won the support of all the main political parties, centred on two key principles—fairness and freedom.

The SNP went into the Holyrood election campaign promising to scrap the tolls if elected.

They were, and today we can reveal that tolls will be history in just 12 days’ time.