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Removing tolls on the Tay and Forth Bridges in Scotland could adversely affect operators because even marginal increases in traffic will disrupt delivery schedules, MPs have been told. Professor of logistics at Edinburgh's Heriot-Watt University, Alan McKinnon, told the Scottish Transport Committee that the financial saving hauliers would make through toll abolition would be very small and would be more than offset by traffic increases on the bridges.

McKinnon's views are at odds with the  industry's trade associations, which both support the abolition of the £2 charge. Giving evidence on the Abolition of Bridge Tolls (Scotland) Bill, the Freight Transport Association's Gavin Scott told the Committee: "Nobody is going to look a gift horse in the mouth and say, 'No, we'd like to keep paying tolls, thank you very much, so please let us do that'."

The RHA's Phil Flanders said: "In freight movements, time is as important as money. From the figures I've seen, most hauliers avoid both bridges in peak hours. Apart from those that have to be there because their delivery is at a certain time, hauliers don't want to be sitting about in queues."

But McKinnon told the MPs: "I take a less sanguine view of the effects of the abolition of the tolls on the freight industry. Many freight operators these days want flexibility in their logistics-they want to be able to operate their trucks at any given time. Increasingly, they must make on-time deliveries at factories, warehouses  and shops.

"So it is a bit complacent to say that most freight vehicles will travel in the inter-peak periods and therefore will not be adversely affected by the congestion."