A driver winds down his window and drops 12p into a metal bucket.
The toll booth attendant waves his hand and the car trundles across a bridge over the Manchester Ship Canal. It's a scene that has been played out in Warburton for more than 125 years.
Home to no more than 300 people, the tiny village - on the border of Cheshire and Trafford - is best known for its controversial toll bridge. The only route across the River Mersey and Manchester Ship Canal between the M6 and M60 motorways, thousands of drivers cross the Warburton Toll Bridge every day.
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Its 12p toll has been in place since 1890 and while it may seem a modest, if unusual sum, it has long been a source of heated debate among people in the village.
"The bridge is a nightmare," declares Steve Ellis, who lives in nearby Church Green. "When the motorway has a problem, everyone tries to cut through.
"They don't upkeep it. If you drive over the bridge there's that many potholes you wouldn't believe it."
The controversy doesn't end there. When the bridge was built in 1863 by The Manchester Ship Canal Company (MSCC), it cost one person on horseback or in a cart 1p (about 18p in today's money) to cross.
The toll was later upped to 12p, a sum that has remained in place ever since and which can only be paid in cash and by hand.
But that could all be about to change after controversial plans to increase the toll for the first time in more than 130 years were put forward last summer.
The proposed new price of £1 is part of a £6.5 million plan to upgrade approach roads, footpaths and the tolling system by Peel Ports, which owns and operates the bridge.
If approved, the new toll will include 50pc discounts for nearby residents. But the plans have sparked major debates among locals, some of whom want the charges scrapped altogether.
"I drive over the bridge at least once a day," said Mr Ellis. "If they put it up to a quid, it's going to cost me £4 or £5 a day. It all mounts up.
"They say they can't afford to upkeep it but the turnover of that bridge must be in the millions."
People living in the quaint village say they regularly get caught up in huge tailbacks as motorists queue to hand over their pennies. At rush hour, queues on Warburton Bridge Road and surrounding roads stretch back for several hundred yards as hundreds of drivers await their turn to pay.
The situation is often made worse when there are incidents on the M6 and M60 as drivers attempt to use the bridge as a cut through, locals say.
According to Syd Rasheed, the number of cars passing through Warburton has 'trebled' in the 26 years he has lived there.
"The bridge causes all sorts of traffic problems," he explained. "At rush hour, it backs up right the way towards Lymm.
"I can drive from Manchester to the edge of the village for 20 minutes then it takes another 20 minutes to get home because of all the traffic.
"The air pollution from the standing traffic is an issue too. The village itself is lovely and it's a nice little community. We are quite tucked away here, it's just the toll bridge and the traffic."
Mr Rasheed described the proposed 700pc price hike as 'unfair' and said he supported a campaign by the Warburton Toll Bridge Action Group to get rid of the charges altogether.
"We put up with all the inconvenience of the traffic and now we are going to be slapped with higher rates," he said.
"It's £40 a month for people that are working. It's not affordable and it's coming at a time when people are struggling. This is not a wealthy village."
At one stage, locals became so fed up with the traffic chaos that they began paying the fee themselves – all in one go. Each week, they would hand over £120 to speed up crossings over the privately-owned bridge, which they say left them ‘prisoners in their own homes’.
The traffic has even prompted the local bus operator to cut services around the area.
In 2018, an arsonist - who some believed may have been a fuming driver - burned down the bridge's toll booth. In the wake of the fire, Peel Ports axed the 12p fee for six weeks while the toll booth was replaced. The endless tailbacks immediately disappeared.
While the bridge clearly stirs up strong emotions for many, others in the village, which is home to 17 listed buildings including the thousand-year-old St Werburgh's Church, say they are content to put up with the bridge.
"I'm quite happy to have it," said Paddy Ruth, whose picturesque cottage is just a stone's throw from the bridge. "It's not doing anybody any harm."
Mr Ruth moved to Warburton from Timperley about a year ago in search of 'peace and quiet'.
"We were so used to living somewhere where there was lots of people and noise," he explained.
"It's lovely and quiet here and the people are great. I love it round here, it's just the quirkiness of the place."
Although he doesn't mind the bridge most of the time, Mr Ruth admitted it can become a nuisance when it gets busy.
"At certain times of the day, it is quite noisy," he said. "People can be quite rude on the bridge because they haven't got 12p to spare."
However, Judy Norcross said the congestion appeared to have improved in recent years.
"A few years ago, I used to come home and the queues were horrific," she said. "It seems to be better than it was.
"It would take three hours to come back from London then half an hour to get down the road to your house."
A spokesperson for Peel Ports said: “A 7-day Public Inquiry took place in November 2022 at which MSCC presented the benefits of their Sustainable Investment Plan and Warrington and Trafford Councils and other interested parties were able to articulate the basis of their objections. We await the decision upon the TWAO (Transport and Works Act Order) by the Secretary of State for Transport in terms of next steps.
"The feedback we have received following our non-statutory consultation shows that upgrades to modernise the facilities, maintain the bridge and reduce travel times are needed and very much welcomed.
“The toll is the best way to fund these much-needed improvements and the current 12p fee has not changed since 1863, and which had to incorporate the introduction of a VAT liability. Users of the bridge deserve facilities fit for the 21st Century which will ultimately ease congestion, reduce tailbacks and improve the general flow of traffic in the area.
“The current toll is one of the lowest in England and will not fund the capital investment needed to support the maintenance and modernising of the facilities motorists are in favour of.”
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