They charged us to flee tunnel fire

May 25 2006

EXCLUSIVE by Kate Mansey, Liverpool Echo

TERRIFIED motorists were forced to queue at pay booths as they fled a blaze in the Birkenhead Tunnel. Panicking drivers had to line up for up to 10 minutes while toll operators continued to charge vehicles as flames engulfed a taxi. Cars were jammed as they had to turn round and and join a lengthy queue to leave the tunnel after a Liverpool-bound taxi exploded. One motorist who tried to ring for help today said the tunnel emergency phone failed to work, although tunnels operator Merseytravel today insisted the phones were all working. Story continues ADVERTISEMENT Lorraine Jackson, 34, of Meadow Lane, Rock Ferry, was behind the taxi when it blew up just before 5pm yesterday. She said: "A ball of flames came towards us. "It was pitch black and it was absolute chaos. I got out of our car and ran to the SOS phone but it wasn't working - there was just adialling tone. "I borrowed a mobile phone from the taxi's passenger and dialled 999 while the driver tried to put out the fire himself with an extinguisher." Ms Jackson and her partner Stephen Sinnott, 38, were halfway through the tunnel when the blue Citroen private hire taxi exploded at 4.25pm. Mr Sinnott said: "Because the barriers were still down we had to queue inside the tunnel for about 10 minutes befo re we even got outside. "It was total madness."

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