For sale: The 240-year-old bridge that will cost £1.65m- but earn you £113k a year in tax-free tolls

Published 07th Jun 2009

Feeling the recessionary pinch? Then here’s a deal that seems too good to miss – an income of £100,000 a year and not a penny to pay in tax.

The downside is you will have to pay £1.65million for the privilege.

But a wealthy investor looking to generate tax-free earnings – especially with the 50p tax rate looming – may be tempted to become the owner of scenic Swinford Toll Bridge, which has stood over the River Thames in Oxfordshire for more than 200 years and is now for sale.

Under an Act of Parliament passed when the bridge was built in 1767, all income derived from it is exempt from income tax. And the structure itself is not liable for inheritance tax, capital-gains levies or stamp duty.

More than £100,000 is collected annually from vehicles that use the crossing, three miles north-west of Oxford. Cars are charged 5p, motorcycles 2p and lorries 50p a time.

The tolls have been fixed since 1994 and can be altered only by Parliament.

Agent John Mitchell, whose firm Humberts Leisure is selling the bridge, said: ‘In the current economic climate, and with the new 50 per cent top rate of tax payable from next year, we expect keen interest.’

The sale price includes a Grade II-listed cottage and four-and-a-half acres of land.
Built in the 18th Century by the fourth Earl of Abingdon at a cost of around £5,000, the bridge carried pigs and other animals over the Thames, hence the name Swinford
(a contraction of ‘swine ford’).

In return for the Earl’s investment, King George III passed an Act of Parliament stipulating that the toll income would belong to the Earl and his ‘heirs and assignees for ever’.

The bridge was owned by his family until 1985, when it was bought for £275,000 by former Lancaster bomber pilot Graham Smith, who was an instructor for the Dambusters of 617 Squadron during the Second World War.

Mr Smith, of Stratford-upon-Avon, died in 2001, aged 83. He is survived by two sons and a daughter, who is married to Michael Hawley, the executor of Mr Smith’s estate.
Mr Hawley said the war veteran was a businessman who had wanted to buy a ‘little piece of England’, but now the family had decided to sell it.

Mr Smith’s wife Mary purchased a second toll bridge at Whitney-on-Wye, Herefordshire, in 1990. This also enjoyed tax-free income and was sold in 2002 to a businessman.

Swinford Bridge manager Paul Batty lives rent-free at the cottage with his wife. He employs five part-time staff to collect the tolls each day from 7am to 9pm.

There is no automated barrier. Instead, money is collected by hand at a booth in the centre of the bridge. Wages must be paid from the collected tolls.

The bridge’s owner must provide a ferry in case the bridge is out of action. He or she also has the right to seize the car of anyone trying to cross without paying.

However, local campaigners want the tolls abolished. Artist Jane Tomlinson and around 700 petitioners have appealed to Oxford County Council to buy the bridge.

She said: ‘Vehicles often have to queue to use the bridge. It’s completely avoidable pollution. Having all these engines idling defies belief.’

Source: ' Daily Mail '

View All Latest Articles