Heading up to the Lakes on Friday morning from London for the PMBA Enduro. Probably be hitting the Birmingham area around 7:30am. Normally I don’t take the toll but I’m thinking the M6 non toll through Birmingham will be rammed at that time. Can anyone from around that area provide some incite in to the traffic around that time and if the toll will save time.

Cheers

Its a non question. An absolute no brainer! Do the toll every time! Its worth the money just to not have to pass through the grey hell that is Birmingham. At 7.30 on a weekday it will be the stuff of nightmares!

But remember…. the M6 toll is NOT, repeat NOT a racetrack! Got that?! So under no circumstances use those huge swathes of smooth, almost empty, police-free tarmac to see how fast your car will go, as that would be irresponsible and wrong!

There! That’s you told!

The police have started putting in occasional appearances. Be aware it’s not the autobahn it once was.

No, you have to wait till you’re in Scotland where there are no laws before you do that sort of thing 😉

Rachel

I use it when heading down south at that time and as Binners says, it’s a no-brainer. Trips north-bound using it are usually afternoon/evening (again a no-brainer) so not sure what it would be like at that time in the morning. However, if you don’t use it and get stuck in traffic you’ll be kicking yourself, worth the £5.50 IMO!

I think I’ve done one or two trips passing Birmingham where I didn’t use the toll and I’ve regretted it every time. Still, better than actually having to go to Birmingham…

At that time of day yes.

Hmm 7:30 N bound you might *just* be ahead of the very worst but any later and it’s a car park. However as others have said even with no traffic the whole route is apocalyptically crap so yeah take the toll and get the hell out of there ASAP

Non-negotiable.

Pay the fiver, and have a dump at the toll road services in the nicer than usual bogs. Get your money’s worth that way…

The toll road is the best – and it’s made from shredded Mills and Boon books. What’s not to love?

There’s a traffic police station on the M6 toll, be aware of your speed.

I used to work on it when it first opened and there are a lot of coppers driving about all the time.

The toll will enable you to get quicker to the accident black spot that is the north of Birmingham M6. 😀

The toll will enable you to get quicker to the accident black spot that is the north of Birmingham M6.

+1 – it’s inevitable that you’ll lose all the time you gained on the toll when some eejit (or a succession of eejits) decides to have an accident or breakdown somewhere between just before Stoke and north of Manchester. And then you’ll have to deal with the average speed zones which seem to make up about 70% of that stretch of the M6 these days. Still it’s usually ok once you’re past Preston. Till you end up behind a convoy stuck behind a granny going at 40 mph in a 60 in the Lakes. 😆

Pro tip…

If the sign as you approach says “Congestion on M6, M6 toll clear” then you should take the toll.

If it just says “M6 toll clear” then the M6 is clear too.

You can draw your own conclusions as to why the signs don’t tell you that the M6 is clear.

You can draw your own conclusions as to why the signs don’t tell you that the M6 is clear.

Well that’s blatantly obvious.

Because it NEVER is!

Top tip for the services if you’re in a hurry – the petrol station has loos as well, saves the hassle/hell of parking up and trudging into the services proper.

Speed through on toll then park at Jct 18.

Chapaking& Marin’s advice very true.
I’ve spent many hours on the m6 in the last couple of weeks. 🙁

I went through Brum on the M6 on the way to North Wales. Plain sailing up the M1 and M6, hit Brum around 7am, I was surprised how many cars there were (it was a Thursday morning if that’s any reference). I had a clear run but I was still surprised

I do wish they’d fix the damn road surface, even second there’s a “hrump” as you go over one of the joins in the tarmac

It will get you up to the Thelwall Viaduct in good time to enjoy the queue there, so well worth it in my opinion – if you’re lucky, there will be another one somewhere after Sandbach, so double fun.

heading up the M6 you’ll be cursing the average 50mph that applies from north of junc 16 all the way through cheshire and beyond, it’s horrendous.

and have a dump at the toll road services in the nicer than usual bogs.

Living not too far away from there we went to the toll services for the first time a few weeks back; the loos were the filthiest I’ve ever seen at a motorway services, they were disgusting…

It’s certainly worth considering timings if you’re thinking of having a stop anyway – ie get past Birmingham on the toll, get to Keele or Stoke for a coffee stop by 8-830, hit the Manchester traffic after 9 to miss the worst of it over the viaduct and past the m62 turn-off.

After that point it should be pretty clear.

Depending on whereabouts in the lakes you are heading to, could you not go via the A1 & A66?

Probably a bit slower in places, but I often find the journey time isn’t that much different as it’s less stop-starty…..

Services are a bit sparse though….

You can draw your own conclusions as to why the signs don’t tell you that the M6 is clear.

Well that’s blatantly obvious.

Because it NEVER is!

Now come on. Thats not fair.

i’m sure if you went through at say 2am on christmas day, you’d probably manage to get to the dizzying heights of 30mph, which is only 100mph less than you could be doing on the M6 toll at the same time 😀

I used to do London to Lakes with monotonous regularity, and invariably went M1-A50-M6. Toll didn’t seem to vastly improve on that, and it somehow feels quicker when you join the M6 at J15 rather than further down (obviously zero logic behind that!)

heading up the M6 you’ll be cursing the average 50mph that applies from north of junc 16 all the way through cheshire and beyond, it’s horrendous.

I thought the same when travelling from Bristol to Lancashire last week: it must’ve added a whole ten minutes to the journey. Will someone please think of the children!