1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186 
The toll bill's for you
Page 8
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Ihelped build the new M6 Toll — but that doesn't mean he'll be able to afford to use it Mind you, with the state of the 'old' M6 he may not have much choice..
Last Thursday I had the pleasure of spending some seven or eight hours in the company of a journalist. No, I'm not in any trouble, well, not yet anyway: BBC West Midlands was filming a piece on traffic congestion centring on the opening of the new road around Birmingham the M6 Toll.
For those of you lucky enough to be unfamiliar with the M6 in the West Midlands, let me enlighten you. Imagine thousands of angry drivers snarling in an endless sea of stationary traffic on a piece of road where the visual highlights are variously: the once proud shell of a formerly great West Midlands icon that stands windswept and deserted by the motorway; a railway marshalling yard; and the RAC control centre. At least when you're stuck on the M25 you can watch the planes. But it seems relief is at hand, thanks to the opening of a new road that skirts around the north of the city. That's the theory, at least. Unfortunately operators will have to shell out £10 (rising to £11) every time we use it. Use it twice a day for just the one truck and you'll be looking at an annual bill of at least £5,000.
Now imagine a Midlands distribution fleet of 50 trucks using the M6 Toll and the lucky fleet operator will be giving Midland Expressway a cool E250,000 a year. Compare that with the E2 (rising to £3) a car driver pays. Cynics would suggest that with this pricing policy the toll road owners aim to persuade all those dirty/smelly/damaging/congestioncausing trucks to stick with the M6 and keep the toll road free and clear for the sales reps upon whom our economy no doubt depends. Pricing trucks off the M6 Toll would also cut the road maintenance bill, which wouldn't do Midland Expressway's profits any harm. Meanwhile the regular M6 is falling apart. So we'll have to use the new road... which will please the Chancellor as all that lovely VAT money rolls in. Can't imagine more of these toll roads in the future, can you?