Some bridges across the country charge motorists each time they cross but have you ever wondered how much money they earn per year?
Research by Moneybarn Car Finance looked into the total toll revenues and the cost of a full-price toll on a weekday to find which of the country’s toll roadsmake the most money and which will cost you the most to use.
Dartford Crossing on the M25 in Essex is the toll bridge earning the highest revenue with a staggering £209million per year.
Around £90million of this comes from drivers paying via accounts, while £45million comes from those without accounts. Interestingly, a large bulk of the bridge’s income, £73million, comes from ‘enforcement’, meaning fines for those who have failed to pay.
Meanwhile, the M6 Toll road has the second-highest revenue of £53.7million per year. The M6 Toll is the country’s only major toll road and runs through the West Midlands.
While it can be avoided by taking other routes, it seems like many people are happy to pay the price for convenience, with the road netting its owners Midland Expressway Ltd over half a million pounds in 2020.
The Mersey Gateway in Cheshire, connecting the towns of Runcorn and Widnes, is the third-highest-earning toll road, making more than £40million between October 2020 and September 2021.
The Mersey Gateway actually refers to two bridges, the Gateway itself and the nearby Silver Jubilee Bridge, that it was built to ease pressure on, which was then also converted into a toll bridge.
Research also found the M6 Toll is by far the most expensive stretch of road to use in the UK, with a charge of £7 for class two vehicles (cars) to use between the hours of 7am and 7pm.
However, the most expensive road to travel in Europe is the Eurotunnel, the only road to drive your vehicle from the UK to the European mainland. Drivers are charged a total of €132 (£110) to cross it.
Story first appeared: https://www.express.co.uk/travel/articles/1955666/uks-highest-earning-toll-roads
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