The M6 Toll Road is up for sale
Published Date: 16th Feb 2016
The M6 toll road has been put up for sale with a price tag of almost £2 Billion. The toll road has failed to alleviate the traffic from the main M6 road through Birmingham with its low traffic levels and high prices.
The news of the sale has raised questions on whether the government should buy it and charge less to ease the traffic levels through the main M6 spaghetti junction. Currently operated by Midland expressway it opened in 2003 and has ran up a debt of almost £1.9 Billion. On an average day for the toll road, it will see just under 50,000 vehicles and charges £5.50 for cars and £11 for HGVs compared to the main M6 which sees 200,000 a day.
Ukip transport and West Midlands MEP Jill Seymour said: “This is the perfect opportunity for the Government to step in and bring it into national control, making it free to use for all drivers.
“And before people start shouting about us being unable to afford such a huge sum of money in times of austerity, it pales into insignificance next to the eye-watering £55 billion we are paying on HS2 – a project which will benefit far fewer commuters, and should be scrapped.
“Road users contribute some £50 billion a year through a variety of taxes, yet only around £6 billion is re-invested in the transport network.
“UKIP is opposed to this highway robbery.
“We want to block the introduction of any new toll roads, and work towards removing existing tolls from publicly owned roads.
“The sale of the M6 Toll gives us a perfect opportunity to put right a terrible wrong.”