Explanatory note

Section 9(2)(b) of the Severn Bridges Act 1992 (“the Act”) provides for the tolls for the use of the Severn Bridge to be fixed by annual orders made in December of each year. This Order fixes the tolls payable for use of the Severn Bridge during the year 1996.

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 the 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 1995 and applying the rounding provisions of section 9(6).