ReturnLoads.net can report that this week marks 10 years since the UK's first stretch of toll motorway opened around Birmingham.
Still the only only road of its kind in the UK, it was built and still currently operated by private consortium Midland Expressway.
Opening in December 2003, the road spanning 27 miles has consistently failed to attract the expected number of traffic. This is mainly due to Commercial van and HGV operators still continue to use the original M6 road to avoid the toll charges, which were at one point up written up to be £11.
However, that is only a slight increase over when the road first opened, when trucks were charged £10 – although this was dropped to £6 within eight months of its opening due to low take-up.
Logistics sector lobby group the Freight Transport Association says that most commercial hauliers still only see the toll road as "an emergency option to by-pass the M6 when it is heavily congested".
"[It] only becomes viable to use when urgent loads need to be moved through the area," said Malcolm Bingham, the FTA's head of road network management policy.
ReturnLoads.net will report more on the story once more news is available.