M6 Toll - avoid!

[TonyS99]

Drove up to Lichfield last week. Heavy traffic, so thought I'd use the M6 Toll. Mistake. Unlike French autoroutes, the money-grabbing gits who run the M6 charged me the same as a 9-axle HGV. £10.60 for three bloody junctions. And no "assistance" button, no-one on the tollbooth, no phone, nowhere to pull in and use your mobile. No option but to pay up.

Grrr.

[72BUG]

So what happens if you end up turning onto it by accident and have no money or realize you've forgotten your wallet?

[dirtygertie]

So what happens if you end up turning onto it by accident and have no money or realize you've forgotten your wallet?

I've often thought about that A lady I work with dropped her son off in Cannock one morning & took a wrong turn off an island ending up on the toll (we only work about 5 miles from it) she had to pay but I did wonder what would've happened if she had no money on her.

[bideford]

They got us in the Kamper last year - jobsworth said it was based upon the height of the van and no further discussions would change the "Commercial" toll charged. We used to use it in the car twice a year on the way to Cornwall. Never again!!

[Plasticman]

So what happens if you end up turning onto it by accident and have no money or realize you've forgotten your wallet?

If i ever have the misfortune to be there I will deliberately check it out,
mike

[weldore]

i went on it once...it was lovely and quiet

[custard]

As you can see we live in Cannock, and have a friend who works on the Toll booths. Get this:.... If you use an automatic barrier the systems measures the front of the vehicle. So if you drive a T4 or 5 which have a bonnet they are therefore classed as cars ( the same as a tacky 159 foot stretched limo), but the humble and smaller T25 as they have a flat front like 99% of commercial vehicles. Hence the price. This seems to be correct, as last year we used the M6 Toll with a mate with a T4. We paid nearly twice the price. I suppose they have to use some system ?
We now always use the A5 it's a nice run and much quieter since the Toll Road opened and Free!!

[Louey]

Wouldn't dream of paying over the odds to use the M6 Toll, not that it is much use to me as it would take me further out of my way if I was trying to get home and also it is one of the most expensive (per mile) Tolls in Europe.

Yes the M6 West Midlands corridor is a busy one but we already pay for it with our road taxes. Just try and time your run through it and avoid rush hours or Sunday afternoons when ikea is closing (junction 9)

[anaconda]

They got us in the Kamper last year - jobsworth said it was based upon the height of the van and no further discussions would change the "Commercial" toll charged. We used to use it in the car twice a year on the way to Cornwall. Never again!!

So what is the minimum height which brings on a commercial payment...im assuming a roof box isnt included?

[TonyS99]

1.3m high above the front wheels. Which isn't very high at all. It's measured automatically.

[anaconda]

1.3m high above the front wheels. Which isn't very high at all. It's measured automatically.

Curious though. Im looking at vauxhalls transit equivalent van which has a height of less than 1.30 at the front axle. So it seems to some extent this is desided on the design of individual vans, and is less to do with the purpose/size.

[Noomo]

On our journeys to and from Dover we do use the toll by choice, but oddly enough both our previous TomTom and our current Garmin satnavs reliably try to send us the wrong (non-paying) way on the junctions' approaches when travelling both north and south.

[TheSwirlies]

1.3m high above the front wheels. Which isn't very high at all. It's measured automatically.

Curious though. Im looking at vauxhalls transhite equivalent van which has a height of less than 1.30 at the front axle. So it seems to some extent this is desided on the design of individual vans, and is less to do with the purpose/size.

Yep - we got caught last year. Because it's automatic and measured on the height at the front axle, the T25 gets hammered for it.

[binka]

I wonder if you edge very slowly up the sensor if it will class you as a car. On French toll barriers if you edge up very slowly it thinks you're a car and the ticket thing comes out the bottom slot. If you go flying up it thinks you;re a HGV and you have to reach up to get the ticket out the top slot. That's my expereince anyway.

Dartford crossing charges me same price as a car. Dunham toll bridge charges me same price as a HGV even though their price sign says vans are the same price as a car. Apparantly its because anything with a fridge has to pay HGV price.

[Cruz]

I used the toll twice when it first opened and was half the price it is now and I paid the standard car charge