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M6 Toll faces fresh attack
Page 12
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Truck charges 'too high' as traffic volumes fall. Guy Sheppard reports CHARGES FOR TRUCKS on the M6 Toll motorway are under renewed attack after traffic volumes fell by 11% in January.
Although the road's operator. MEL, is not disclosing what proportion of traffic was accounted for by HGVs, anecdotal evidence suggests it is minimal.
Freight Transport Association spokesman Geoff Dossetter says: "It seems increasingly clear that as time goes by there is a need to create a price that the market is attracted to, and 110 is not such a price — it is far too high."
MEL's figures show that average daily traffic on the road fell to 30,662 vehicles last month, compared with 34.490 between 14-31 December.
However, the company says: "Caution should be exercised in forming conclusions based on this data as traffic varied considerably from day to day through the January period, from a low of 17,845 to a high of 41.096."
Dossetter also warns operators to beware of the following offer on the M6 Toll website: -Two-axle trucks and coaches now only £5. Offer valid until June 2004."
He says that. while this could be interpreted as a special offer to entice hauliers on to the road, there has not been a price change since the road opened in midDecember. It is due to the fact that the charging technology cannot distinguish large rigid vehicles from vans, and the van toll is £5.
MEL says two-axle trucks will be charged £10 from June once the necessary technology has been installed.
It adds that the full price for trucks is worth paying because the running costs for a truck totals some £30 an hour and the predicted time saving from using the M6Toll is 45 minutes.
However, hauliers such as RU Bassett & Sons in Stoke report that traffic is flowing much more freely on the M6 as a result of the toll road opening, so the time savings are minimal (CM 8 January).