How much!!!?????

Had to travel south from the north yesterday at short notice and relied on memory of the major roads we'd used to get south to north.

Knew we needed to go on the M6 (even though we missed half of it on the way up due to a dodgy GPS on an antiquated blackberry)

End up on the M6 Toll. Not a problem; due to the time we were driving, we knew we'd get the Dartford Tunnel for free, instead of the usual £2, so it was surely a "swings and roundabouts" situation?

FIVE POUNDS FIFTY PENCE!!!!!

How on earth is that justified?

Hrmph! Not a happy bunny about that: not-at-all

Thing is, I can see this becoming more and more common place in the not so distant future.

 

I've just had a look at their website. Out of 6 list items in their 'Benefits' section, 3 of them are about how easy it is to pay. And out of 7 list items in the 'Safety' section, 6 of them are what we pay for anyway via our road tax and fuel duty, for our regular motorways.

 

The M6 toll is a ridiculous price , thus empty most of the time . I only use it as a treat if I know Birmingham is going to be busy.

 

Because so few people use it they have to charge more?

 

I always say that of Royal Mail, if they drop the postal charges, especially at Christmas, more cards would be posted instead of passed along a chain of friends/relatives

 

Yet another stealth tax which takes your money for government pockets.
A14 near Cambridge will have theirs soon and boy that will rack up the poor back roads with traffic.

 

I may have agreed with you, Shiney, except ...

... I don't think the middle of the night could be deemed a "peak" time by anyone's standards; and by your own reckoning, £5.50 would be the peak rate?

 

How can any government that rips off its own people like the UK governments do, justify building Toll roads.
OK this might be privately owned, but should our roads actually be "owned" by private companies in the first place.
Secondly, I really hope this company that owns the M6 goes down the pan, big time.
Its the best way to deter others thinking they can make a fast buck.

 

Personally, I'd have nothing against toll roads, as long as they were built without disrupting too much.

The bigger issue is not whether toll roads are ok or not, for me, it is whether the government would accept them as supplemental to the road network they are paid to maintain, or a replacement for such. I suspect the government would view toll roads as the latter. I.e, I wonder if the stretch of road that the M6 toll bypasses will get the same investment with the toll road there, as it would have if the toll road had not been built.

I also think its about time the government made a fair decision with regard to road tax. Should they charge us a fixed fee, as they do with the road tax (or license duty or whatever posh name they give it)? Or should they charge on a pay as you go basis as they do with the extortionate fuel duty+VAT combo? Or maybe they should charge less fuel duty, no road tax, but then have more toll roads? As long as the pricing was fair, I'd have no problem with any of those, but all three seems a bit much.

 

It has been said that lowering the charges means more people will use the toll road and therefore more maintenance costs - the owners like to make money to pay off the debts not spend it on repairs. I have heard its like a race track because no one is on it ...

 

Really annoys me as you cross the Severn bridge into Wales, signs just before toll booths no cards taken, 7=50 saloon car, what are you supposed to do turn around and find a shop. You are on a motorway.....In this age of plastic I have to remember to get cash when out...Although I do believe it is changing sometime never so you will be able to use cards.
P.S. The new Severn bridge is French owned.