The Griffin Report: How the M6toll has stood the test of time
The M6toll road has stood the test of time after a shaky plagued with opposition and protest. It’s now celebrating its 21st birthday and JON GRIFFIN spoke to its general manager, affable Aussie MICHAEL WHELAN, about the impact it has made on the UK motorway network.
M6toll general manager Michael Whelan sums it up neatly. “Just imagine if the M6toll wasn’t here. There would be almost 50,000 vehicles a day that would be using alternative routes such as the A5 or the M6, or clogging up local roads.
“We are able to better connect the North and the South, and I think we do a pretty good job of it.”
A lot of water has passed under the bridge – or to be more accurate many millions of cars and HGVs have driven along the 26 miles of the UK’s only motorway toll road – since the concept of a pay to drive motorway was first unveiled more than 30 years ago.
The M6toll opened in 2003 as an important addition to the country’s strategic road network. Commissioned by government, six objectives were set including that the M6toll should “become an integral part of the continual motorway corridor along the backbone of the country”.
The M6 Toll has withstood initial opposition from local residents and environmental campaigners and has become a popular route for those looking to travel through the region, avoiding the congested M6.
More than two decades after green activists clambered up trees in a fruitless attempt to stop the road project, the M6 Toll is celebrating its milestone 21st birthday – and affable Aussie Michael Whelan is keen to highlight the considerable benefits the road has delivered to the UK transport network.
“When I first joined the business just under three years ago, I drove along the road and could tell the maintenance team were extremely proud of what they have done here – a clean, smooth and pot-hole free carriageway - that’s credit to them for the effort.
“The M6toll is a success story for the region. Built and operated with private investment, three million hours are saved each year for business and leisure travellers by enabling them to bypass the M6.
“We are seeing up to 50,000 vehicles a day, or about 18 million vehicles a year. The HGV market in particular has grown significantly over the past five years, primarily due to the significant economic benefit of using the road. Our traffic split is roughly 20 per cent HGV, 80 per cent cars and vans.
“The haulage sector has really cottoned onto the economic benefits of using the M6toll. They experience an average journey time saving of 22 minutes, less stop-start, reliability of arrival time and a positive experience from a driver welfare perspective.
“This time and financial saving really adds up, especially when considering the average fuel saving of 2.3mpg. Reliability is probably the big thing for them. If they are late for a delivery, penalties are applied.
“The M6toll has been a driver of economic growth locally too. We free up capacity along the M6 for those needing to deliver or do business in the Birmingham area, with the M6toll contributing a £400m boost to the region’s economy in 2019.
“We know that 5,000 jobs have been created as a direct result of the M6toll, and an additional 1200 firms have located In the region – we help connect people and businesses right across the UK.”
At a time when the UK’s motorway network is under increasing strain to help support the attempts to steer UK PLC towards more stable growth, Michael reels off statistics that back up his claims that the Toll Road is the “safest motorway in the UK” and a “fast-track through the Midlands.”
“Vehicle miles travelled increase every year, and we are seeing traffic volumes increase, particularly commercial traffic.
“We have recently undertaken some research with an independent organisation and we found that a haulage company with 100 vehicles each using the road once a day, the time and fuel saving would end up being about £72k a year.”
Michael can also point to 25,000 users of the Toll Road’s Breeze account. The recent £20m investment in ANPR technology opened up an opportunity for the operators to introduce new, fairer pricing for those making shorter journeys, and the ease of being able to breeze through the toll lanes without stopping, reducing congestion at the toll booths and increasing capacity as the company continues to grow.
“We rarely get congestion – and we want it to stay that way. We cannot have customers paying for a great experience and to beat the traffic on the M6 and then have them queuing at the toll booths.
“So now our customers can sign up for a Breeze account, and they have a dedicated lane that they can use. Customers can still ‘pay as you drive’ and tap as you go at the Toll booth, or you sign up for an account with us, and save money. And we do all this, and our maintenance at no cost to the taxpayer. The road is completely funded through the tolls we collect.
“We have got about 25,000 account holders and the figure is growing – it’s a big focus for us. The new digital approach ties in with the new Toll system. Previously we did not know where our customers got on and where they got off.
“Now we can monitor VRNs (Vehicle Registration Numbers) at the entry and the exit and then we can price accordingly – it’s created new pricing options for customers that we didn’t had previously. That is something the local market has been calling out for, for such a long time.
“Previously local residents didn’t see the toll road as being useful to them. They saw it as of no benefit to them because no matter where you get on and off, you may be charged the full price depending on the route taken.
“Now with the investment in the ANPR technology and new ‘zones’, customers pay for the section of road they use – that is meeting stakeholder expectations.”
Meanwhile, environmental expectations have also been tackled around a quarter of a century on from the sights of protesters climbing trees in the nearby Staffordshire countryside in protest.
Relocation of heathland has encouraged the siting of new habitats for animals such as deer, badgers and bees while allowing local flora and fauna to flourish. Mowing regimes have been reduced providing more wildflowers for bee pollination – the M6toll team can even boast their very own beehives.
“We make sure that the run-off from the road doesn’t pollute local watercourses. We collect the water that runs off and we actually clean it before it makes its way out into the rivers.
“Also, going back 21 years ago when the road was being built, a million trees were planted and now they have matured and provide great habitats.
"We have had a significant major focus on ESG, and will be conducting species monitoring activity to keep track of the wildlife around our road.
"We work closely with local charities, and this year we are supporting the work of the Lichfield and Hatherton Canal Society, as eventually the canal will cross our route over an aqueduct specially constructed for the canal.”
So in an era of seemingly interminable debate about the pros and cons of working from home, what does the future hold for the UK’s safest, pothole-free motorway Toll Road, now owned by a partnership of Australian investors and UK pension fundholders?
“The road is definitely here to stay, the investors are long-term infrastructure investors, and there are another 29 years remaining on the concession.
"Our priority is to continue to meet the objectives set out when the road was built – to provide through-traffic with an alternative to the M6.
"We now need to leverage the recent investment we have made in the tolling system to let more people know about the benefits of the road.
“We have certainly got more capacity and we can start to release that capacity further down the track with new technology.”
With committed owners investing in a 24-hour a day operation providing jobs for 130 staff, the £900m M6toll has stayed the distance since it was first dreamt up as the Birmingham Northern Relief Road to help ease the plight of harassed M6 drivers negotiating one of the busiest stretches of motorways in Europe.
Pictured: M6toll’s Michael Whelan (bottom right) and Joanna Seabright (back left) with the GBCC’s Henrietta Brealey (bottom left) and Raj Kandola
This article first appeared in the March 2025 edition of Chamberlink magazine.
