I am saddened to read (September 25) that motorists are taunting the toll collectors, who face redundancy on the Forth Road Bridge. Having spent more than 40 years of my life in the engineering/construction industry, I am no stranger to redundancy and, having viewed it from both sides of the fence (as an employer and employee), I am well aware of the pain redundancy causes.
When one is handed one's P45 it is not a nice feeling, but in my case it was not unexpected as working on the construction of power stations, oil rigs and ships I did not expect to be kept on when the contract was completed.
So while I have some sympathy for the toll collectors on the Forth Road Bridge, theirs was never meant to be a permanent job. If the politicians had kept the promise they made to the Westminster Parliament - which approved the collection of tolls - they should have been removed in 1995. The toll collectors have had a 12-year extension to their expected contract period owing to politicians who could not let go of the goose that laid their golden egg.
The statement in your article, which suggests that the abuse of the toll collectors is a by-product of the campaign to remove the bridge tolls, is without foundation. As the major opponent of tolls, National Alliance Against Tolls (NAAT) has never criticised those who have to carry out the collection of tolls and supports the prosecution of anyone who abuses people going about their work. NAAT only attacked the unfair system that necessitated collection and those who espoused that unfair tax.
Hopefully, the toll booths will soon be demolished and the workers made redundant by this move will find work in businesses boosted by the economic revival this long-overdue liberation will bring to Fife, Tayside and the Lothians.
Tom Minogue, Scottish spokesperson for NAAT, 94 Victoria Terrace, Dunfemline.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article