A fresh legal challenge has been launched over the way toll prices were imposed on the Skye Bridge 30 years after the crossing opened.
Residents rebelled against the highest bridge tolls in Europe before fees were scrapped in 2004.
It has been alleged that the UK Government’s legal paperwork was unlawful.
The crossing is widely considered a marvel of engineering which has helped boost the local economy.
However, the first major project funded by a so-called Private Finance Initiative sparked a storm of protest because of its comparatively sky-high tolls, before they were ditched nine years later.
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STV NewsA return ticket had cost up to £11.40 compared with 80p for a round-trip on the Forth Road Bridge.
Serving politicians were among hundreds who faced court for non-payment.
Two regional councillors serving the local authority, both then and now, have recalled their involvement in the protests.
Margaret Paterson said: “It was just not fair, and I believe that you should fight for what you believe in.”
Drew Millar spent a night in a police cell after refusing to pay the toll.
Speaking this week, he said: “The whole spectrum of the community was behind us, from a roadsweeper to a doctor basically, from a teacher to a student. It was absolutely amazing.”
After 30 years of investigation, the campaign group that led the protest has concluded that the tolls regime on Skye was “unlawful”.
STV NewsSkye and Kyle Against Tolls (SKAT) founder, Robbie the Pict, said: “I’ve got concrete evidence that the subordinate legislation, that the laws that should have been put in place to erect a toll regime, was not in proper order. It wasn’t made as required by Scots law, and I can prove that.”
He claims there was incomplete legal paperwork to grant a licence to collect tolls.
He has detailed the allegation in a document he has now handed to Police Scotland.
The force has confirmed it is awaiting guidance from the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.
Robbie the Pict has, meanwhile, urged local MSP Kate Forbes to help instigate a public inquiry.
He said: “I’m certainly persuaded, after a thorough examination, that there’s a strong case for quashing all the convictions and paying compensation to the people affected.”
In all, 130 people were prosecuted for non-payment of tolls.
The anniversary was marked at the weekend (October 11) by local historians, including a former shopkeeper whose business was impacted.
STV NewsCaroline Clouston of the Kyleakin Local History Society, said: “We were busy leading up to the opening of the bridge because we had all these bridge workers in the village, which really gave us a boost. And then the village just went dead as does any village that’s bypassed, I’m sure.”
Councillor Millar acknowledged the economic boost the bridge had brought to Skye, but he remains proud of the way the community united.
“I think to have a 24-hour, free link to the mainland is hugely important, especially nowadays,” he said.
“It’s been a fantastic thing for Skye – and the SKAT campaign, I think, will go down in history as perhaps the last civil disobedience act in the Highlands.”
The initial estimated cost of the bridge was put at £15m.
The Scottish Executive (predecessor of the Scottish Government) stopped the tolls after buying the bridge for £27m from its American owners.
It is understood that the tolls raised £33m.
Campaigners say winning their case, 30 years on, would be priceless.
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “The Assignation Statement referred to was made in accordance with all the relevant legislation.”
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