1. This Order may be cited as the Severn Bridges Tolls Order 1997 and shall, in accordance with section 9(2)(b) of the Severn Bridges Act 1992 (in this Order referred to as "the Act"), come into force on 1st January 1998.

2. The tolls leviable in respect of vehicles within the categories referred to in section 8(1) of the Act using either of the bridges shall be as follows:-

3. The Severn Bridges Tolls Order 1996(2) is hereby revoked.

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Order)

Section 9(2)(b) of the Severn Bridges Act 1992 ("the Act") provides for the tolls for the use of the bridges to be fixed by annual orders made in December of each year.This Order fixes the tolls payable for use of the Severn Bridge and the Second Severn Crossing during the year 1998.

The tolls will be payable only for traffic travelling from east to west and for vehicles (other than those exempted by section 8(5) of the Act) within the categories specified in section 8(1) of the Act. These are (1) motor cars and motor caravans, (2) small goods vehicles and small buses and (3) other goods vehicles and buses.

In accordance with section 9 of this Act, the toll for each category has been fixed by adjusting the amounts shown in the table in section 9(3) by the percentage increase in the Retail Prices Index between March 1989 and September 1997 and applying the rounding provisions of section 9(6).

The tolls levied in 1997 were as follows:-