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Operators want no truck with tolls
Page 20
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Truck operators are boycotting the M6 Toll road because of the £10 truck toll. Will trucks be priced off the proposed M6 Expressway too? Jennifer Ball investigates.
Last week, the government announced plans for the UK's second toll motorway. The 50-mile road will join the existing M6 Toll road from Cannock to Manchester between .111A and J19 of the M6.
The government says the new road is designed to cut congestion on the M6, which carries around 40,000 vehicles a day; a fifth of the traffic flowing through the West Midlands conurbation.
But will it actually benefit operators? Last December, Britain's first toll motorway, the M6 Toll, opened to great acclaim.The route was designed to provide a welcome relief from congestion around Birmingham. However, while many car drivers have seen their journey times slashed, few operators have used the M6 Toll because of the £10 truck toll (CM 15 January).
Trucks are believed to account for less than 1% of traffic using the new road, although Highways Agency officials point to a freeing up of space on the old M6, which has benefited operators. Toll operator Midland Expressway (MEL) has been heavily criticised for refusing to reveal the average number of trucks using the route; it claims that after only six months it is too early to draw conclusions (CM 17 June).
Groups such as the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, the Freight Ilansport Association and the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) all believe that the government should be actively encouraging trucks to use any future toll road.They say the government should learn from its mistakes of granting MEL a 50-year franchise, without guaranteeing any intervention on price setting, effectively creating a monopoly.They say that this time when it issues the contract it must ensure that it retains an option to set fair charges.
Palpable benefits The FTA's Geoff Dossetter says that if and when the road is delivered there needs to be a toll rate for trucks that delivers a palpable benefit: "The M6 Toll at £20 for a return journey is too expensive when operators are only seeing a return of £4 -£5. It wouldn't matter if the toll was £100 if they saw a return on their investment of £110. Then they wouldn't mind paying it. It will be farcical if this route at the spine of the UK, and vital for many operators, is too costly for them to use."
Digby Jones, director general of the CBI, also defends the needs of the road transport industry: "It must provide value for freight vehicles if it is to be a genuine alternative."
A spokeswoman for the Department for Transport comments that the new road is only at a preliminary stage and how it is priced will e included in the consultation.•