M6 Toll Road

I read in Auto Express that the first set of road works appeared on the new Toll Road recently - five weeks after it opened! Anyone know if this is true?

While on the subject of the toll, if this proves a success we are going to see more and more tolls appearing all over the place. Are we not penalised enought for using our cars? What is needed is a boycott of the road in order to prevent it from being a success. The problem with boycotting though is organising the thing in the first place. There will always be people who ignore the boycott so ultimately it would fail.

Andy

[GorgeousGeorge]

andy

yep its true, and it was jammed up the other day while the "free" M6 was running o.k.

see

http://icbirmingham.icnetwork.co.uk/...name_page.html

what a farce ......


scott

I disagree with you completely, the idea of toll roads is a very good idea and the M6 Toll is a very good road. I cannot see why people are so afraid of paying for what they consume.

George

[link:www.ttsservices.co.uk/my%20volvos.htm|http://www.ttsservices.co.uk/imm021.jpg]

'95 940 Polar LPT (B230FK/AW71; 130k)
'87 740 GLE Turbo Diesel Intercooler (D24TIC/ZF22; 210k)

George,

I do pay. A lot! 300+% on tax on the fuel I use... Plus 30% tax when buying a car. Plus tax when I insure the car. Plus tax even if I don't use the car (106euros every quater). If am have to pay a toll on using the road scrap the other taxes.

Over the last 12 months I paid more than 3000 euros in taxation to use my car.

Plus I think that after readin this article the whole thing isa definate farce! It is advertised as for use by those who don't want traffic queues - adn yet this proves that they can do no such thing. Also how did a road that is so dangerous that there were 5 accidents caused by standing water on the road get permission to even open?

Stu

BTW I see you managed to get onto the BBC :)

George,

I'm not afraid to pay for what I consume at all. In any event I have no choice. We pay a fortune in taxes as it is. Petrol is subject to VAT AND fuel duty, we pay Vehicle Exise Duty to keep the car on a public road, we pay IPT on our insurance premiums etc etc. Why should we pay all this tax on our motoring and STILL have to pay to use a road? Why is it that all this extra tax the motorist pays does not go back into the roads?

Quite frankly, it's shocking. I wouldn't even mind if roads were neglected in favour of Public Transport investment but that doesn't happen either. Why do we pay so much for the privelige of driving on sh!te roads that cause premature wear to our cars (that we have also payed tax on).

Andy

I agree that the spending on public transport is nowhere near enough but the tax burden in the UK is very low compared to most of the western world. The impact on the environment of road transport is tremendous but I agree, we motorists do pay a lot but seemingly most of it is spent in the wrong way. My main point was that the M6 Toll is a good road, I drove it just last week, and well worth the two quid.

I have never crossed at Dartford without being in some sort of a jam be it stationary, very slow or just slow and yet I always have to pay a whole pound.

and yes I did get onto the BBC, I was quite surprised really? Did anyone see the excellent Panorama show last night? Sometimes I am very glad that we have BBC One and BBC Two in Belgium.

George

[link:www.ttsservices.co.uk/my%20volvos.htm|http://www.ttsservices.co.uk/imm021.jpg]

'95 940 Polar LPT (B230FK/AW71; 130k)
'87 740 GLE Turbo Diesel Intercooler (D24TIC/ZF22; 210k)

"and yes I did get onto the BBC, I was quite surprised really? Did anyone see the excellent Panorama show last night? Sometimes I am very glad that we have BBC One and BBC Two in Belgium."

Never saw Panorama last night. What was it about? The Toll Road? How did you get onto that?

With regards to the tax burden. I'm not convinced our tax burden is lower than most of the Western World. The direct tax burden maybe lower but then we get hit with hidden or indirect taxes.

I've just been sorting out my expenses from yet another trip down under. While there I was driving round in a selection of huge V6's and V8's with unreal fuel consumption and huge fuel tanks. Fuel there is reasonably cheap but it isn't until you look at the price in GBP that you realise just how cheap it really is. There wasn't one fuel transaction over £20 sterling!

Andy

The Panorama programme was about the Hutton inquiry. I was not on the show but they published my comment online.

I cannot see how it can be good to have gas guzzlers that cost noting to refuel. Petrol comes from oil and we must be careful with what we have got left, we have wasted to much already.

George

[link:www.ttsservices.co.uk/my%20volvos.htm|http://www.ttsservices.co.uk/imm021.jpg]

'95 940 Polar LPT (B230FK/AW71; 130k)
'87 740 GLE Turbo Diesel Intercooler (D24TIC/ZF22; 210k)

I didn't see the report as I was sceptical about it's viewpoint given that the BBC is also part of the hutton inquirey.

We get BBC 1 and 2 in the Netherlands too - the only issue is they are useually the only decent channels to watch so I haven't used the TV to help my Dutch that much...

Gotta agree with the gas guzzlers though. Whilst I am not going to get into the whole global warming debate part of the issue, the fact is that we have alimited supply of oil and so just driving huge engined cars does seem rather pointless. Esp as with the eception of super cars you don't seem to get much for your CI's...

Stu

Oh, sorry, I wasn't saying I agree with huge cars burning masses of fuel. I was only pointing out how cheap the fuel actually is.

Government excuses of taxing fuel and cigarettes etc in order to curb usage / consumption is a load of poo. All that serves to do is place an extra burden on those who can't afford it. Someone with lots of money has no problem using lots of fuel while someone with little money is more likely to need to use the fuel but can't actually afford to do so (or has to cut back in other areas in order to buy fuel).

Andy