As we reported exclusively this week, TfL collected at least £5 million in fines at Rotherhithe Tunnel over the first eight months of the year. That means people drove vehicles that were heavy or too large through the tunnel more than 76,000 times.
Caroline Pidgeon, the chair of London Assembly’s transport committee, says it’s a question of signage. But there are six signs at the northern and southern approaches to the tunnel. Are people just taking the hit to avoid having to drive to Tower Bridge or another river crossing?
Drivers slapped with £5m in fines for breaking Rotherhithe Tunnel rules
Maybe the fines should get even bigger to put people off. After all this is a tunnel that is over 100 years old and in desperate need of repairs. TfL said in July that it needs £120 million for a full repair job, otherwise it will keep having to patch up the tunnel and eventually may need to close it down altogether.
But even if all that £5 million was spent on repairing the tunnel – and it almost certainly isn’t – we would need to wait about sixteen years to raise enough money. Either the fines get bigger, the government steps in, or eventually we may lose the tunnel.
TfL’s next funding settlement with the Department for Transport comes in December – we will have to wait to see what happens then.