I HAVE read various letters regarding the “congestion stealth tax” and, as a daily commuter for the last five years, I’ve never felt compelled to write into The Bolton News until events last week.

Can someone tell me what increase in passengers is expected if the “charge” comes in and how many carriages will be added during rush hour to accommodate this? I do not believe for one minute the passenger/carriage ratio will be sufficient, even after the TIF funding. We need four carriages now on my morning commute — we get two. If we get an additional two carriages in the morning this will not cover current and proposed demand. We will need an extra four carriages at least, with every platform at every station extended to accommodate this. Will this actually happen? I doubt it.

One morning last week I arrived at the station to catch the usual 7.23 from Daisy Hill to Manchester. At 7.30 when it hadn’t arrived, I asked at the ticket office what had happened and was told “it’s not left Wigan yet”. So the passengers for the 7.23 and the passengers for the 7.40 train were now waiting at the platform. When a heaving train turned up we were unsure if it was the express to Manchester or the delayed 7.23, as we weren’t told anything. It happened to be the express so those that had stops at Hag Fold, Swinton etc, were stuck on the train until Salford Crescent and had to make the journey back.

When I got off at Salford Central there was an announcement that they “were sorry that the train to Stalybridge (my regular train) was delayed by approximately 32 minutes”. Will the congestion “tax” actually make trains run on time? I doubt it. It’s a good job my employer is understanding about public transport.

Friday evening I left work early as I had an appointment to get to so I went for the 16.32 Kirkby train from Salford Central. I got to the station to find it was cancelled. So I aimed for my usual 16.51 Southport train, which would just about get me to my appointment on time. This was then announced as cancelled. No explanation. Will the congestion “tax” stop cancellations? I doubt it — there will just be double the number of people waiting for the next one. I do not believe that there will be enough carriages or enough platform alterations to accommodate this, no massive increase in fares, no cancellations and no late-running trains.

So please, as a commuter, I ask you to vote no! I don’t want to struggle to get to work and home again because of the increase in passengers that will quite clearly not be catered for well enough, especially at this time of year when National Rail fail to accommodate the extra “Christmas shoppers” that buy a cheap day return yet travel home peak time! The train times have already been changed from this month to arrive later in the morning, meaning we arrive later to start work at 8am — it beggars belief.

Natalie Marlow