The Severn Crossing toll was scrapped back in 2018 (Image: Getty)
One of the UK’s most popular bridges serving millions of motorists every year despite over 50 years of .
, connecting Gloucestershire in England and Monmouthshire in , is
It is estimated that a whopping 25 million car journeys are made across the £8million Severn Bridge each year.
For 52 years, road users had to pay a fee to cross the Severn with rates increasing every 12 months.
Charges were collected on the westbound carriageway on the English side with road users having to pay to enter Wales.
Drivers were paying £6.70 to cross the route in 2017 (Image: Getty)
Since 1993, charges generally rose by around 10p or 20p per year, reaching a peak of £6.70 for cars back in January 2017.
Motorists paid the fees to offset the construction and maintenance costs of the route.
Prices were cut to just £5.60 in January 2018 before the costs were on both the Severn Bridge and the Prince of Wales Bridge.
The Welsh Government estimated that the abolition of the toll would boost the Welsh economy by around £100 million per year.
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The move was said to have saved commuters travelling between the two countries an annual toll charge of £1,456.
When announcing the move to cut tolls, former Secretary of State for Wales Alan Cairns described the move as “an early Christmas present for hard-working commuters.”
He added: “My number one aim when I became Secretary of State for Wales was to do away with tolling that for half a century has restricted and distorted the growth and connections of the Welsh economy.”
However, has claimed motorists had felt “ripped off” for years as the fees likely continued years after building costs had been paid back.
The RAC explained: “The government argued that the tolls were being scrapped to provide a much-needed economic boost to the South Wales and Bristol-Bath regions and help mitigate against the impact of .
“However, many motorists who used the bridges regularly believed that they were being ripped off by toll charges for years, and that if the tolls were enforced to cover the costs of the bridges then they should have been abolished for years already.”