M6 Toll numbers crash once more

The number of drivers using the M6 Toll has plummeted by more than 13 per cent in the past three months.

The latest traffic figures published by Midland Expressway, which operates the pay-as-you-go road, reveal that around 6,300 fewer drivers per day chose to use the motorway between April and June this year compared to the same period in 2007.

An average of 47,964 drivers a day took to the private motorway during the three month period last year, while just 41,635 used the route between April and June 2008, a drop of 6,329 motorists per day – or 13.2 per cent.

The dwindling user figures follow a similar drop during the first three months of 2008 in comparison to last year.

Operators Midland Expressway introduced price hikes at the beginning of the year and cars now pay £4.50 to use the road at peak times, with vans and HGVs forking out £9 to use the motorway between 6am and 11pm.

Cars paid £4 before the 12.5 per cent rise was introduced on January 1. After 11pm the toll drops to £3.50 per car.

But the company has put the drop in drivers down to roadworks being carried out on the M6 during 2007.

According to Midland Expressway, work to the southbound lanes of the M6 near Junction 8 saw more drivers opting to use the alternative M6 Toll road during the first half of last year.

In the absence of the roadworks, the private road has not experienced the same boost in numbers during 2008.

The motorway experienced a 9.9 per cent drop in user figures between January and March this year compared to 2007.

But Midland Expressway then said the fact that there were less working days at the beginning of this year than last was to blame for the falling figures.

The company's chief executive Tom Fanning maintained at the time that the company did not believe price rises on the toll road were having a detrimental effect on traffic figures.

Mr Fanning said the drop was expected and that Midland Expressway was anticipating an increase in users throughout the year.

The M6 Toll opened in December 2003 to ease congestion through the gridlocked West Midlands. The road links the M6 and M42 to the south of Birmingham and the M6 north of Birmingham, bypassing the most congested section of the M6.