Drivers may get to use the M6 Toll for free to relieve chaos caused by motorway smashes, transport chiefs revealed today.
Motorists would be given free passage on the under-used toll road to stop the region regularly grinding to a halt.
The number of motorists on the M6 Toll road fell almost 10 per cent in the first three months of this year after price rises, while the Black Country stretch of the M6 is used by 150,000 vehicles every day.
Bosses at M6 Toll owners Midland Expressway today confirmed it was in talks with the Highways Agency about opening it up for free following serious crashes.
Walsall transport chief Councillor Anthony Harris said today: “The whole purpose of the M6 Toll was to alleviate congestion on the M6, but judging by what many drivers see every day, it has not been entirely successful in doing that.”
He said that when there is a serious accident on the M6, cars should be diverted on to the M6 Toll.
Mr Harris continued: “I think that would be preferable to plans to build more lanes or for cars to use the hard shoulder.”
Gridlock on the M6 costs businesses millions of pounds due to staff delays.
Tom Fanning, chief executive at Midland Expressway, said the firm had previously suggested different ways of helping in the case of emergencies.
He said: “Midland Expressway recognise the benefits of utilising the M6 Toll should there be any serious incident on the M6.
“It was always intended to be the through route within the West Midlands. Detailed discussions as to the diversion of vehicles has been and continues to be undertaken with the Highways Agency.”
By Richard Williams
10 Comments
That’s the most sensible thing I’ve heard about the M6 Toll yet….
Why has it taken so long to realise this?
it wont be free the tax will subsidise it sign they aint making any money let them go bust
ty payer pical this is a private enterprise who thought they could make a fortune but came unstuck i feel this is the first step to the tax payer putting their hand in their pockets again
Seems a bit too much like common sense to me.
I’d be surprised if they were to be so generous as to go ahead with it, unless there is some sort of ulterior motive behind the plan.
Great idea to open up the Toll Road when there are problems on the M6 provided it is not going to be another way of making money for Midland Expressway. Incidently, does anyone know if M E. pay buisness rates to the local councils?
Under used? L.O.W.E.R. the toll then. N.A.S.A. it aint.
Or is this just a “try before you buy ” scenario to show hundreds of drivers just how much quicker their journey could be ? I am one of the millions who has never tried the road through principle alone , we pay enough road and fuel tax without any voluntary add ons .
The M6 Toll is a huge waste of an asset. It should be nationalised and open to all drivers who have paid many times over in taxation to use the roads.
In the past 10 years, drivers have paid about £320 Billion in tax above and beyond government spending on roads. If government were serious about relieving congestion and easing peoples journeys, they would scrap the idea of road pricing and improve the roads with drivers money already taken in fuel tax, VED, car tax, VAT etc.
I handed my toll tag back earlier this year.
The toll road company have priced it out of ordinary people’s use - “always intended to be the through route within the West Midlands” - then lower the price and it may be.
I used it a lot when it first opened and it was great. But then the prices went up, and up and up and up… They even charge you for having a tag, even though it means they get your money up front, get to earn income on your money up front AND don’t have to pay cash collection charges because it’s all done through the bank. Then they force tag users to use slip roads instead of the main toll plazas which - while speeding you up when the road is congested; slows you down when it isn’t.
The M6 Toll should halve its fee, give discounts for tag drivers and dedicated lanes at the toll plazas and you would immediately reduce congestion on the M6.
But, of course, the M6 Toll company don’t want that, do they.
I suspect this is the first step towards the government permanently renting the toll road from Midland Expressway and allowing everyone to use it for free all the time, thus relieving the congestion on the M6 which it was supposed to do in the first place. M.E. have been taking so little money from drivers since this opened that they can’t be far off bankruptcy (hooray!) so I think this is a way of baling them out.
Instead of paying them loads of money to use the road, though, let’s wait until they go bust and then buy it outright. We’d probably get it for a quid!