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High Court rules against toll bridge VAT exemption





Whitchurch toll bridge, which links Oxfordshire and Berkshire at Pangbourne, needs to be restored at a cost of approximately £3.2m.
The Grade II listed structure was granted its own act of parliament in 1792 stating it should not be subject to any "rate, tax or duty whatsoever".
However last Thursday (December 13) a High Court judge ruled that Whitchurch Bridge Company is no longer exempt from VAT.
Justice Ian Burnett said: "Both before and after the passage of the 1792 act, bricks were subject to excise duty. Candles, no doubt, were used in the toll booths and even glass. They too were subject to excise duty, as were many of the goods consumed in the running of the bridge.
"Stamp duty was payable on paper used and so on. The company would not have been liable to account for any of these taxes to the various tax collection offices then existing. That would have been the responsibility of the suppliers of the goods and services. But the bridge and its proprietors undoubtedly bore the economic burden of them.”
Whitchurch bridge is due to be reconstructed in October next year, with a temporary footbridge being erected two months earlier.
Following the court hearing Whitchurch Bridge Company, whose ten shareholders include direct descendants of the original builders of the bridge, stated it would consider appealing the court’s decision.
Company secretary, Geoff Weir said: “Our current plans are all based on the assumption that we would continue to pay input VAT as we do now, so the decision will not cause us to change our plans or to delay the reconstruction of the bridge.
“Also, we have no plans to submit a toll application to increase our tolls in the foreseeable future. However, the decision will mean that the next increase in tolls, whenever it comes, will be sooner than it would have been had the decision gone in our favour.
“We now expect to pay VAT of £700,000 on the bridge reconstruction costs. All of this, which amounts to 20 months worth of tolls, will have to come from the users of our bridge,” Mr Weir added.
Approximately 1.5m vehicles cross the bridge every year, with a 40p toll being collected between 7am and 9pm on weekdays, 8am and 8pm on Saturdays and 9am to 8pm on Sundays.
The original wooden bridge was built in 1792 and replaced in 1852 before the current iron structure was erected in 1902.



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