Itchen Bridge

Look at the vehicle that will actually arrive at the booth. Southampton classifies traffic by its height at the first axle, which means a large van can attract a different charge from a small van even though both are called vans on their registration documents. A motorhome is measured the same way, so one standing more than 2.39m tall at its first axle falls in Class 4 however it is used. Check the displayed class before you pay and press the help button if the equipment appears to have classified you incorrectly.

The 2025 toll order treats a trailer and its towing vehicle as one composite vehicle. The trailer does not create a second crossing charge. For a car towing a caravan, the important measurement is still the first axle of the towing vehicle. Do not assume that adding a caravan automatically turns a Class 2 car into a Class 4 vehicle. Equally, a high-fronted commercial van does not become a car because it is carrying only personal luggage. The classification rule is about the vehicle, rather than the purpose of this particular trip.

Take a driver living in a property whose Council Tax goes to Southampton City Council. Their Class 2 car passes the Itchen toll plaza on the way to work and again on the way home. With the correct resident SmartCities card presented on both journeys, the published concession is 40p per crossing. The return therefore costs 80p, calculated from the council's rate. Paying the ordinary £1.20 tariff at each booth would make the same return £2.40. The card saves £1.60 on that return. These are arithmetic illustrations, not a separate commuter ticket or a published season price.

This is a toll plaza, so deal with payment while you are at the barrier. The council takes cash, a contactless bank card or a funded SmartCities card at the booth, and each booth has one reader for both contactless and SmartCities payments. Check the amount shown for the vehicle class before completing the transaction. The contactless option is useful to a visitor who has no local account: there is no account to open for an occasional crossing. Keep your payment card available until the barrier transaction is finished.

The council's quick top-up service asks for the Smartcard Reference Number printed on the back of your card. It is a 10-digit account number. You can pay with a payment card, Apple Pay or Google Pay, or sign in to see your balance and crossings before adding money. Treat the bridge's low-balance message as a prompt to top up: it appears when the card has eight or fewer crossings left. The council says funds should reach the account in 15 minutes, but advises allowing longer at busy times. A top-up made while already waiting at the barrier is therefore a poor substitute for checking your balance before setting off.

Do not drive through the booth assuming there is a Dartford-style online payment window. Itchen Bridge collects the toll at the plaza. If your usual SmartCities card cannot be read, press the help button and explain that the card has stopped working. The council specifically directs drivers awaiting a replacement card to speak to plaza staff. A historic council service document describes help points and a deferred-payment arrangement for people unable to pay at the machine, with an administration charge. Ask staff for the current terms in your particular case and retain any slip you receive.

The council's SmartCities terms say that failing to present a valid concession card brings the full toll at the crossing. The card terms in its application form also list withdrawal of the concession, possible prosecution and a £15 administrative charge for misuse, including deliberately lending or copying a card. That is different from a published, staged Penalty Charge Notice tariff for an unpaid bridge toll. No current council page we could verify sets out such a tariff or a toll-PCN appeal timetable. If the council sends you a demand, use its reference and contact details to query the classification, transaction or claimed debt rather than borrowing appeal deadlines from another crossing.

The residents concession belongs to people living in properties where Council Tax is paid to Southampton City Council. The council's application booklet lets you choose the Itchen Toll Bridge service on a SmartCities card. Existing cardholders can provide their account number instead of assuming their bus or library function automatically carries a bridge concession. Complete the relevant bridge section, supply the requested identity and address information, and wait until the council has enabled the service. You then add funds and present the card at the booth each time you cross in a Class 2 vehicle.

The 2025 order also defines a Concessionary Zone and a Local Commercial Concern. A business must trade from premises inside that defined zone, and its affected vehicle must ordinarily operate from those premises. This is narrower than doing a delivery in Woolston or having a customer on the eastern side of the river. The published local commercial rate is 60p for a Class 3 vehicle and £3 for Class 4. A Class 2 vehicle can also use the 40p local commercial tariff when the relevant conditions and card are in place. Read the order's zone schedule before treating a business address as qualifying.

Suppose a Class 3 van visits a customer across the Itchen and comes back by the same bridge. At the ordinary published £1.60 rate, the return is £3.20 by simple addition. If that van belongs to a qualifying local commercial concern, is ordinarily operated from the order's Concessionary Zone and its driver presents the valid SmartCities card, the stated 60p rate makes the return £1.20. The arithmetic difference is £2. These totals are illustrations of two crossings, not a special return fare. Check the van's measured class and the business's actual zone status before quoting the cheaper total to a customer.

Southampton's disabled persons concession applies to a Class 2 vehicle when the eligible person has been issued the council's disabled concession SmartCities card. The council accepts a current award for the higher mobility rate of Disability Living Allowance, qualifying Personal Independence Payment mobility points, or the specified war pension mobility supplement. It asks for evidence of the award, identification, proof of address and a photograph on a new application. The council says it will review the application and contact you within seven working days. Apply ahead of a planned trip; entitlement to a benefit alone does not operate the toll reader.

The concession follows the eligible person rather than the driver: the council's card terms charge the normal toll if the person the card was issued to is not in the vehicle. The practical issue is the approved card, which must be presented at the booth. A Blue Badge is useful evidence of other rights but should not be treated as a substitute for the specific Itchen approval process. The published exemption applies to Class 2 traffic; do not assume the same card eliminates the Class 3 or Class 4 toll. If your vehicle has changed or an award has been renewed, check the account details with the council before relying on free passage.

Motorcycles, scooters and other vehicles with a single front wheel sit in the bridge's free Class 1. That is a vehicle classification, so a visiting rider does not need a Southampton resident card to claim it. An electric car is different: the current class table and 2025 order price cars by vehicle class and show no general electric-car exemption. Older material about the bridge may describe a past electric concession, but it should not guide a present payment. Use the currently published charge for the car's class unless Southampton has approved a separate concession that applies to your vehicle and is active on your card.

Opened 1977, tolled under the Hampshire Act 1983 to manage congestion and fund maintenance. Contactless accepted at booths. The 2025 Toll Order (effective 7 April 2025) revoked the 2023 (No.2) Order; Class 2 standard toll is now £1.20 and Class 4 £40.

The A3025 carries the Itchen Bridge between Woolston and central Southampton. Northam Bridge, upstream on the A3024, is the untolled crossing to check if you are choosing a route that avoids the Itchen toll; the council says it sits on a key strategic transport route. Its walking plan also names the A3024 Northam Road as one of the city's busiest commuter corridors, so a toll saving may come with additional traffic and a less direct journey. Compare your actual start and destination, not just the two bridge names. A route from Sholing to the waterfront has a different trade-off from one heading toward the northern side of the city.

The bridge opened in June 1977 and gives Woolston a direct route into Southampton. The council alone is responsible for maintaining it. In a January 2024 cabinet report, Southampton said the toll helps manage congestion around the bridge and supports ongoing maintenance, and that the single carriageway route is unsuited to large volumes of HGV traffic, which is why the Class 4 toll went from £25 to £40. The report adds that no government money paid for the bridge's construction or later major maintenance, and that because the bridge does not serve a route of key strategic importance, a bid for such funding would be unlikely to succeed. The toll therefore still has a stated role even though the structure itself is no longer new.