According to a report by the BBC, the 27-mile motorway route between Cannock and Coleshill is up for sale at a cool £2bn. The M6 Toll, the first in the UK, was opened in 2003 by Midlands Expressway Ltd at a cost of £900m but has been blighted by under use from the start. Figures from 2014 show a loss of £28.6m, down from £32.5m the previous year.
Recently the number of vehicles using the road has increased, possibly due to the improving state of the UK economy, with a reported 52,735 vehicles per week between October and December last year, compared with 45,890 in 2014. A consortium of 27 banks now effectively own the company and are selling their equity to recover around £1.9bn from the sale.
Hauliers have criticised the high-cost of using the road with HGVs having to pay £11 even if they don’t use the entire 27-mile stretch. Comparisons have been made with toll roads in France and Spain where trucks pay by the mile with prices slashed dramatically for journeys at night.