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Hauliers hit out over new rise on M6 Toll

Haulage companies today hit out at the latest price rises on the M6 Toll road and insisted they will carry on avoiding it when charges go up. Monday to Friday, from 6am till 11pm, motorbikes will pay £3 and cars £5.30 from March 1 – up 30p.

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Haulage companies today hit out at the latest price rises on the M6 Toll road and insisted they will carry on avoiding it when charges go up. Monday to Friday, from 6am till 11pm, motorbikes will pay £3 and cars £5.30 from March 1 – up 30p.

Class 3, 4, and 5 drivers – which includes cars with trailers, vans, and HGVs – will be hit the hardest with an increase of 60p across all mainline and small junctions. Between Monday to Friday, from 6am till 11pm, a car with a trailer will pay £9.60, vans will pay £10.60, and HGVs will pay £10.60.

Stafford-based haulage company Stan Robinson says it seldom uses the road and new fees will do nothing to lure back businesses.

Company director Mark Robinson said: "We might use it on the off chance we're running late, but 99.9 per cent of the time we do not use it.

"It would have to be something more like £5 before we did. When you have as many wagons as we have it just doesn't make economic sense."

Irene Whorton of South Staffs Freight, based in Lynn Lane, Shenstone, said the charges were too high for the firm to use the route.

"When you're paying £10 for a tiny bit of diesel, it just doesn't make sense to use it," she said.

Edmund King, AA president, said the increase is another squeeze on the motorist and comes at exactly the wrong time.

He said: "This latest toll increase could backfire as it may put off many cash-strapped drivers from using the M6 Toll so ironically revenue may fall. Last quarter just 38,000 vehicles per day were using the road albeit that bad weather probably deterred some."

Tom Fanning, CEO of Midland Expressway Limited, said: "Following the recent 2.5 per cent VAT increase, we are making a necessary adjustment to our toll rates. The toll increase of 3.5 per cent is in line with inflation."

The road cost £2 for a car to use when it opened in 2003 and was designed to take up to 100,000 vehicles.

From Junction 11A on the M6 near Cannock, rejoining the M6 at Junction 3A at Coleshill it runs 27 miles.

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