The M6 toll road has proved a costly flop

The UK's very first pay-as-you-go motorway is accused of being underused and overpriced as it sees a 40% drop in traffic over the past seven years.

Things have become so bad that Geoff Inskip, chief executive of Centro, the West Midlands transport authority, called on the Government to take the M6 toll road out of private hands to ease congestion around Britain's second largest city.