A MOTORIST could not pay his Mersey Gateway toll because a staff member was snoring on the other end of the phone.

Liverpool musician Joe Smith recorded the bizarre incident after failing to get through to any customer service agent from toll operator Merseyflow on Saturday afternoon.

In the video, the 38-year-old appears to get connected to Merseyflow customer services, only to hear heavy breathing and snoring on the other end of the line.

Despite shouting “hello” repeatedly down the phone the snoozing staff member did not wake up, forcing the bemused driver to miss his toll payment deadline.

Joe said: “I rang Merseyflow because I could not pay the toll online as the website was down.

“I followed the instructions when you press a number to get through to who you need.

“But when it connected, I could hear snoring down the other end of the phone.

“There’s only so many times you can shout hello – I was tempted to start singing a lullaby.

“It was absolutely ridiculous, it’s a complete joke that this happened and now I might have a fine looming over my head.”

The LFC fan, who crossed the bridge on Friday night to play a gig with his band Smokestack in Runcorn, also claims that when he rang for a second time, the customer service was not much better.

He said: “I finally got through again and they were just not bothered. I told them I had recorded the snoring and I was going to put it on Twitter and they thought it was funny. They said they couldn’t wait to see it.

“It’s not like it was late hours. It was right in the middle of the day when I rang the first time. It was just mad.

“The customer service was diabolical and I don’t know how they are getting away with it. ”

A Merseyflow spokesperson said they are aware of the post on social media and are currently investigating.

Responding to previous complaints about their poor customer service they said: “We are dedicated to giving bridge users the best service we can and our processes are reviewed constantly to make sure they meet the highest standards.

“We always strive to be as customer-focused as possible and we take any complaints or suggestions about the project seriously and deal with them on a case-by-case basis.”