Map reveals the UK’s most expensive toll roads with THREE pricey routes all found in the same region

THE UK’s most expensive toll roads have been revealed – with three of the priciest routes all found in the same region.

The roads, which are used by hundreds of thousands of drivers every day, rake in more than £300 million a year from Brits just to drive them.

Toll roads have been active in Britain for at least 300 years, with the first turnpike trust established by Parliament in 1706.

Now largely replaced by private companies, these operators are tasked with maintaining the roads under their authority.

Unlike National Highways, they don’t generally receive direct government funding so all repairs and upkeep are funded out of private investment.

Public roads, in contrast, are maintained using public funding from the collection of road tax.

As a result toll road operators are allowed to charge drivers to enter and use the roads they control and have the power to fine users who dodge the fare.

However, rising prices amid the cost of living crisis have prompted scrutiny from consumer groups over how high these charges are set.

Analysis by Moneybarn compiled a list of the top 10 list of the most expensive routes out there.

Surprisingly, the top three spots were all technically claimed by the same road as the M6 Toll emerged the clear winner (or loser depending on your perspective).

Opened in 2003, it is designed to reduce congestion on the public M6 and offer long stretches of open road rather than jams – if you can afford it, that is.

The 27-mile toll route is broken up into three separate sections, with motorists able to pay based on how much of it they use.

If you only want to pass through one zone, it’ll set you back £6.20, while two zones costs £8.

Those wishing to use travel across all three zones on the busy commuter road are asked to shell out a whopping £9.70.

That’s more than double the price of the next-priciest toll in the nation: the Mersey Tunnels at £4.20.

And the Tamar Bridge connecting Devon and Cornwall comes in a distant fifth at £2.50.

Some may be stunned to discover that the Dartford Crossing was actually among the cheapest on the list at £2.50, despite the nation’s highest-earning toll road.

The bridge connecting Kent and Essex across the Thames Estuary rakes in a massive £216 million a year alone, largely due to the fact that it’s used by over 50 million vehicles a year.

Between that and the M6 Toll alone, operators are taking in over £300 million annually solely in driver charges.

And that’s without counting the thousands of fines issued to toll dodgers every year.

A spokesperson for Moneybarn said: “The number of toll roads has fallen drastically since the 19th-century days of ‘turnpike trusts’.

“But while there are few toll roads in the UK, they can be pretty costly, and it’s important to know where they are and if they can be avoided”

It comes after we revealed how Britain’s first secret toll road has cost unsuspecting taxpayers over £700 million.