POLITICIANS were last night urged to intervene to halt the proposed closure of both Mersey tunnels for more than 24 hours from tonight.
The closure, which starts at 11.30pm and will not end until 12.30am on Wednesday, is expected to cause chaos across the region with direct links between Liverpool and Wirral completely cut off to road traffic. All Mersey Ferries services will also be cancelled.
Thousands of Wirral commuters working on the Liverpool side of the river will have to take a major detour to the Runcorn bridge by car or switch to Merseyrail services, which will increase carriage numbers to cope with demand.
The Mersey Tunnel Users Association last night urged councillors on Merseytravel, the transport executive, to order a U-turn and keep at least one tunnel open.
The closure has been called by tunnels managers because of the day-long strike over pensions by public sector workers. Hundreds of schools, libraries, and local authority leisure centres across the region will also close tomorrow as staff protest at the attempt to end the 85-year rule.
This allows public sector staff whose age and years of service added up to 85 to take early retirement.
Civilian police workers are also affected and forces have urged the public to call only in emergencies tomorrow.
John McGoldrick, secretary of the MTUA, said: "I cannot believe there is a need to close both tunnels, as well as the Mersey Ferries. It will cause chaos and horrendous problems across the area.
"Surely there must be enough managers and non-union staff to operate at least one of the control rooms.
"They must know how many people are likely to be available for duty. It seems to me the tunnels are being closed for political reasons.
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