M6 Toll Road Fee

[Red wine lover]

To use the toll road or not? Due to take trip from Poole to Cheshire and mulling over whether to use the toll road.
Has anyone got any very recent experience of the fees they charge for our California vehicles.
It looks like we might fall into the Ckass4 category so it's likely to be a fee around £16

 

[colintfcolintf]

I’ve never bothered to be honest, and stuck to the toll free motorway to get to the likes of Oulton Park etc

 

[BrendanJ]

IMO the M6 toll free is increasingly decrepit, strewn with roadworks , dangerous with too many junctions and feeds of traffic including queues , and will rattle your van to bits
At any cost I would opt for the toll road, it is peacefull, fast and SAFE

 

[Hawthorn37]

We took the toll last year after a very long journey home and we didnt have our brains engaged. The fee came as a big shock in the Capital One message confirming the payment. Never again!

 

[OceanView2023]

We brought our California back from Poole on the M6 toll road, I think it was around £16. We regularly travel on the M6 / M6 toll Southbound in our normal car and pay for the toll each time. The only possible time I would consider the M6 itself is on a Sunday, but even then we use the toll road, it gives you a chance to take a breather & relax on a long journey - we also use Norton Canes services which are better than average & on the toll road.

 

[Maidment_Ocean]

Just used it yesterday was £15.30, I was expecting it to be same as a car! If I had known I would have used the M6, it was very quiet yesterday, no roadworks the whole way from the M1. Bit annoying considering I had just come back from 1000 miles in Europe with only €1.30 tolls!

 

[Barry Chuckle]

I use the M6 Toll/M6 very frequently. I suppose it boils down to how much you value your time over the cost. I'd suggest using a reliable SatNav such as Waze which gives live traffic updates then make your decision. I've often saved 45 mins to an hour by using the Toll when there is heavy traffic/accidents/road works etc. Personally I'll happy pay just under a tenner to save the time wasted and the crawl through traffic. But I do understand if you're not in a rush or not willing to pay the cost of the toll it's not a price worth paying.

 

[andyinluton]

Personally I'll happy pay just under a tenner to save the time wasted and the crawl through traffic.

If only it was under a tenner! It's £15.30 for a Cali each way. its (just) over 1.3m high over the front axle which puts it in class 4

Lowered suspension & two fat people in the front & you might just squeeze into class 2

 

[Van Diesel VW]

Used it once and was shocked at the cost, stick to the M6 now and take my chance or go up the M1 and take A50 from Derby to Stoke, which route I take is based on traffic conditions at the time, but always avoiding M6 toll.

 

[NessL]

We drove over the M6 toll on bridges a few times a couple of weeks ago. We would have used it if it was a bit cheaper. It was completely empty. I did comment at the time that they seem to have priced themselves out of the market.
Same as the post office and stamps - priced them so high that people stop using them so much.

 

[bigmac77]

Every time I get to where the M6 splits and I think I’m not paying the toll today, I live to regret it, the toll is certainly expensive in the Cali but it beats sitting in traffic.

 

[Baldrick]

We check Waze route options and make the decision depending upon real time traffic and what’s going on back home or at our destination respectively.
If it’s just me in the ‘Van and I don’t have a stack of urgent things on, providing there’s not much difference in the journey times I don’t use the toll. The toll itself takes a few minutes to get through - unless it’s busy my experience is there’s not much difference.
If there’s two of us and there’s a delay it’s twice the waste of time. If we’re late then the time saving becomes more valuable.

 

[Meoncoast]

It was the final straw in not renewing the CMC membership when they withdrew the discount where you could go for the price of a car.

 

[derek_j_buchanan]

To use the toll road or not? Due to take trip from Poole to Cheshire and mulling over whether to use the toll road.
Has anyone got any very recent experience of the fees they charge for our California vehicles.
It looks like we might fall into the Ckass4 category so it's likely to be a fee around £16

We decide based upon the traffic and time of day both of which are closely related. Also consider whether in a hurry or not.

 

[DianeM]

To use the toll road or not? Due to take trip from Poole to Cheshire and mulling over whether to use the toll road.
Has anyone got any very recent experience of the fees they charge for our California vehicles.
It looks like we might fall into the Ckass4 category so it's likely to be a fee around £16

£15.30 when we used it in March and we were glad to get a more relaxed pace, we felt it was worth it.

 

[Betty67]

Pick your time and going north i go m40 to m5 route to m6 seems best.last few times its not been too bad but do not go during rush,
would not use pirate ally unless i knew there was a closure!

 

[Wee Haggis]

To use the toll road or not? Due to take trip from Poole to Cheshire and mulling over whether to use the toll road.
Has anyone got any very recent experience of the fees they charge for our California vehicles.
It looks like we might fall into the Ckass4 category so it's likely to be a fee around £16

Definitely not red wine lover. Used it last month and was charged £15.30 for my Cali which is registered as a car and is my everyday drive. M6 toll use a height measurement to set tolls which makes it a commercial vehicle in their eyes ! Highway robbery and not to be encouraged in my opinion. Happy travels.

 

[owen_h]

Definitely not red wine lover. Used it last month and was charged £15.30 for my Cali which is registered as a car and is my everyday drive. M6 toll use a height measurement to set tolls which makes it a commercial vehicle in their eyes ! Highway robbery and not to be encouraged in my opinion. Happy travels.

apparently (so I was told) the height is measured at the front axel by shining a beam across the bonnet to see if it gets to the other side. The California/Transporter is borderline between car/van. If your lowered it sometimes charges the car rate.

 

[smlp]

We used M6 last week after getting off Portsmouth ferry late evening. Thought M6 would be quiet after 9pm so didn’t bother with toll. was shocked at the state of the M6 surface, potholes and ridges that are appalling for a motorway. And there were about five sections of 3 lanes to 1 whilst patching took place, which caused lengthy delays. So I will avoid the M6 whenever I can In favour of toll In future, even though they do rip you off.

 

[silversurfer]

We brought our California back from Poole on the M6 toll road, I think it was around £16. We regularly travel on the M6 / M6 toll Southbound in our normal car and pay for the toll each time. The only possible time I would consider the M6 itself is on a Sunday, but even then we use the toll road, it gives you a chance to take a breather & relax on a long journey - we also use Norton Canes services which are better than average & on the toll road.