Drivers and hauliers are deserting the M6 Toll motorway over its hefty prices.
Traffic on Britain’s first pay-as-you-go motorway has dropped by 10 per cent in a year, with lorry drivers saying they will not use it unless prices drop.
But bosses at Midland Expressway Limited (MEL), which runs the private route, still plan to go ahead with price increases which will take effect from next year.
Cars using the 27-mile motorway will pay an extra 50p while vans and HGVs will pay an extra £1.
Pete Kirkham, who runs Cannock-based KHL Haulage, said: “The M6 Toll was never intended for hauliers at those prices.
“If they halved the price they’d get people using it both ways, but they don’t want that because it means more wear and tear.”Andy Aldred, transport manager for WD Cooper Transport Ltd, said: “We just have to accept that we’ve got to sit on the motorway.”
In September last year 55,500 vehicles used the road each day.
New figures reveal that number has dropped by around 5,000 a day.
Bosses at the motorway, which links junction four of the M6 in Warwickshire to junction 11A near Cannock, say the prices will come into force from 6am on Tuesday January 1.
Tom Fanning, chief executive of MEL, said: “We are providing an excellent service for our customers and the M6 Toll remains excellent value for money.”
The new prices will see cars paying £4.50 at peak times with vans paying £9 and HGVs paying £9.
By Daniel Wainwright
18 Comments
what a suprise…
It is fast becoming the country’s biggest white elephant, and a national disgrace. The biggest argument against toll roads is the M6 Toll itself.
IT’S LOOKING A BIT LIKE THE BILLION POUND DOME A RIP OFF,WILL THE TAXPAYER HAVE TO BAIL THEM OUT LIKE WE DO WITH A LOT OF NU LABOUR IDEAS,HO WELL I’LL HAVE TO WAIT AN EXTRA HALF HOUR TO GET TO WALSALL ON THE M6,WELCOME TO RIP US OFF BRITAIN.
perhaps the banks should call in the debt from the owners of the M6 toll road for poor business planning.
Another labour idea thats fallen down the toilet.
Generel election please!
Don’t really care - its private money that built it, not taxpayers.
If the toll operators are still in business, they must be making some money. Only people in Cannock and Lichfield would use it so it has limited local appeal.
The Northern Relief Road was built for people in London and the North West to avoid the West Midlands, it was never build for ‘US’.
What should have been built was a Western Relief Road… but that’s a whole new can of worms.
the problem with the M^ toll it just gets you to the jams on the M42 quicker.
We need a route into Wolverhampton, Dudley, Tipton etc
I refuse to pay to use a road that wants to charge me and i’m already paying tax.
General election
shut up moaning - fed up this negative attitude - you have choice if you don’t like it don’t use it! SIMPLE
I use the M6 Toll, as it’s very convenient for me as I live near one of the junctions. Petrol and diesel is stupid money at the moment and i would rather be moving on a road than sitting in congestion wasting fuel.
A lot of people who moan and complain about the toll road don’t even use it and will probably never use it, it wasn’t tax payers money that built it so i cannot see why they are complaining. At the end of they day you either use it or you don’t it’s your choice.
if you look at the big picture it only took 7 years to find a good use for the millenium dome, so in another few years it might actually be some use to more people than at present. do i take it that ‘walsallmadman’ likes the road to himself?
The Govermnet should drop white elephant plans to widen the M6 to Manchester and use the cash to slap a CPO on the M6 Toll to open it free to all, leaving crumbling Spaghetti and the old Midlands Links Motorway route to local traffic.
These price rises show exactly what would happen if road pricing came in. Need I say more?
If we all made a stand and not use it, they would have to do something (PEOPLE POWER)
If you go to France with a car you can go on there toll roads for about 70 or 80 KLMS for a few euros , and these B*****s here want to put the price up every 5 minutes, and Walsall Mad Man wants to shut his trap
Walsall Mad Man is quite right, if you don’t like it don’t use it! Everybody has choices, that is the wonderful thing about a democratic society!
What price do you put on an hour or half an hour of your life? I regularly travel to London and it knocks at least 30 mins if not more of my journey, if it cost me £5 or even £10 i’m more than happy! Half an hour of my time is worth far more than that to me, if it is not worth that to you then sit on the M6 in traffic, that just means less traffic on the toll and a quicker journey for me!!!
It seems to me there are a few people on here with more money than sense.
It also makes me wonder where all the profit from the road toll system is going. This doesn’t seem like something to help fix road congestion, but the start of a road network for the arrogant elite.
There projects are incedibly expensive so I doubt the road is in profit yet.
The problem is that British business does not think long term so wants all the money back now!
People have made the point that this is a service that you can take or not , I agee with that. From a personal point of view I can’t see any difference on the old M6 for it having been built.
For the record I haven’t used it.
It’s also interesting that the signs tell you there’s no congestion on the toll road but never that there is no congestion on the old M6, bit of marketing maybe?
i’d use it if the prices weren’t so high, suprised teh boy racers dont use it as technicallly its private land so in theory police cant stop you for speeding