It is expensive enough to run a car these days without having to pay to drive on a highway, and a sinking feeling greets many motorists across the UK when they realise their journey will include a toll road. The UK’s latest toll road, the £2.2billion Silvertown Tunnel, is opening in east London on Monday, providing drivers with another River Thames crossing. In return, though, they will have to hand over a £4 peak-time toll also to be active in the currently free-of-charge Blackwall Tunnel. Transport for London (TfL) says taking cash from drivers is necessary in order to “help manage traffic levels” across both tunnels, repay the cost of the scheme, and help with their maintenance and operation.

But it is not known when, or indeed if, the fee will eventually be axed, as has been the case with some other British toll routes. There will definitely be some concessions and exemptions, including a 50% discount for drivers who are registered as living in 12 nearby London boroughs or the City and in receipt of certain benefits. Small businesses, sole traders, and charities registered in Greenwich, Newham or Tower Hamlets can also apply for a £1 discount on the off-peak charge, for a maximum of three vehicles. But everyone else will have to fork out the full whack.

The priciest toll road in the UK is on the M6, requiring £9.90 or more pass through, an expense depressingly familiar to those living in and around the West Midlands. There is also the M25 Dartford Crossing, which is run by National Highways, a government body, and charges cars £2.50. The RAC says there are 20 tolls or toll roads in the country, the dearest of these being the Tamar Bridge at £2.60, which is owned by Plymouth and Cornwall councils; Dartford Crossing at £2.50 and Tyne Tunnels at £2.40.

The Dartford Crossing is the only toll run by the Government, with fees collected on its behalf by National Highways. The rest are operated privately by firms including Midland Expressway Ltd (MEL) and Road Management Group (RMG).

The tolls for the Prince of Wales Bridge, previously known as the Second Severn Crossing, were scrapped on December 17, 2018. Jack Cousens, head of roads policy at the AA, says: “To a degree, drivers are begrudgingly accepting of tolls as long as it pays for the upkeep of the road or bridge they’re using.” But he thinks that the Prince of Wales Bridge had “paid for itself several times over” before it became free, and getting rid of the fee was a “little bit of tokenism” from the previous government.

Indeed, it is his opinion that “all too often” drivers are told by officials that, once the income pays for the infrastructure, they will remove the toll, and, sadly, these moments “rarely arrive”. He cites the Dartford Crossing as “a very good example of that”. “It’s more than paid its money in terms of income over the years, and yet the charge still exists,” the expert says. Drivers could understandably be wondering if this will be the case with the Silvertown Tunnel.

A Freedom of Information request from the Express reveals that more than £559million was paid in tolls for passage over the bridge between 2020 and 2024. The most raised in a single year from Class B, vehicles with a maximum weight of 3,500 kg (3.5 tonnes) and up to 8 passenger seats, including cars, light vans, and some SUVs; Class C, vehicles over 3.5 tonnes; and Class D vehicles, buses with more than eight passenger seats, was in 2022, more than £118million.

National Highways says that, without the charge traffic volumes would increase and “the economic benefits from the crossing would reduce significantly”. The charges collected at the Crossing must by law be used to “fund transport improvements throughout the UK and cannot be used to fund only local transport improvements”, it adds. Motorists can pay to use the Dartford Crossing up front whereby they put money into an account, and the cash is taken from that pot when required.

However, Mr Cousens tells the Express that it used to be the case that if drivers did not use all of that money within a set period of time, the bridge “absorbed” it. This, he describes as “naughty”, and bosses should have asked drivers if they would like it back instead.

The Department for Transport (DfT) confirms to the Express that before 2021, motorists were notified that their account was at risk of closing and invited to take action to keep it open. The excess balance was not returned if they did nothing. A spokesperson adds: “The Dartford Crossing charge manages traffic and delivers more reliable journey times for freight traffic, enhancing efficiency and growing the economy.

The charge also helps maintain the Crossing, and without it congestion would significantly increase and so hold back economic growth. Dart Charge account holders are contacted after 12 months of inactivity and given the option to either keep the account open or get their money back. If they don’t respond, they receive an automatic refund.”

Howard Cox, founder of FairFuelUK, who claims to have stopped £200billion of Fuel tax hikes since 2010, says decade after decade governments have used motorists as a “reliable cash cow”. He adds: “The most significant benefit of using these roads is convenience, as they significantly reduce travel time. However, for this driving benefit, the Government, local authorities, and toll-owners deem it their right to take hard-earned cash from motorists and businesses.”

Mr Cox adds: “Roads in the UK are worse than in many other developed nations, even though Britons pay the world’s highest tax on fuel, according to a leading economics consultancy.”

The Dartford Crossing is a “case in point”, he thinks, “with a promise that the toll would be scrapped once the building costs for the new bridge were reached”. The campaigner adds: “The promise was broken, so the National Highways Agency continued forcing drivers to pay for their profit.

The crossing has always been tolled, and though the construction cost has since been paid back, the toll was retained and rebranded as a conveniently scaremongering congestion pricing scheme from April 1, 2003.” He also highlights that Forth Road Bridge tolls were also removed in 2008 and asks: “So why is the Dartford Crossing still a pay-to-use thoroughfare? It can only be for an opportunistic profit grab as the bridge has been fully paid for.”

Overall, governments, local authorities, and the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, see charging motorists as their “easiest and quickest” source of cash, Mr Cox, a ULEZ critic who ran against the Labour incumbent as Reform UK’s candidate in 2024, adds. “Drivers should be seen as a solution to the cost of living crisis and stimulating economic growth.

There must be a long-term, at least 20-year road users strategy produced by those who understand road transport and its impact on the economy. A thoughtful, market-driven approach to our energy and transportation policies could serve current and future generations, ensuring sustainability without compromising economic growth.

The onus is now on leaders in the UK and beyond to examine clean fuel technology ideas critically while navigating the complexities of modern governance and citizen needs. Building new roads, making road transport costs cheaper and roads less congested will deliver economic growth on a scale we have never seen before.”

The Silvertown Tunnel will “fleece drivers and sole traders”, he believes, who are “already hit by ULEZ and Congestion Charges”. Mr Cox tells of a roofer living in Lewisham, whose primary customer is located in Poplar, north of the Thames. The businessman told him that the new tolls will cost him £260 per month, and he works on a 5% margin. The charge will consequently “wipe out” much of his profit from this client, ensuring his company will “become unviable”. Mr Cox adds: “Companies will have no choice but to increase their trading prices, and the local economy will be severely hit. Many sole traders say they are giving up on London as any chance to make a living.”

A spokesperson for the Mayor of London, says: "Drivers currently face chronic congestion around the Blackwall Tunnel, with hundreds of closures each year and tailbacks resulting in millions of hours lost in traffic. The new Silvertown Tunnel will mean faster, more reliable journey times for thousands of Londoners. Introducing a user charge for both tunnels is crucial to reducing congestion. A package of mitigations is available to support residents and businesses. This includes discounts for small businesses, sole traders and charities and low-income Londoners.”

John Wilmot, CEO of car leasing comparison site LeaseLoco, is more positive about the current system, suggesting that toll systems aim to reduce congestion by offering quicker routes for commuters, making them a “generally positive initiative”. Charges, for example, can be particularly effective on heavily trafficked motorways like the M25 and M1, which “frequently experience gridlock during rush hour”. Be that as it may, the expert notes that tolls can sometimes have the opposite effect, as drivers may divert to smaller roads, often taking a longer route, to avoid paying the fee.

“Introducing more toll lanes could encourage drivers to opt for faster routes,” Mr Wilmot suggests, “helping to ease traffic flow. But the fee must be reasonable to ensure accessibility for the majority of motorists. In an ideal world, the revenue would then be reinvested into road maintenance and could “significantly benefit the UK economy and create an incentive for drivers to use these lanes, knowing their payments are contributing to improved infrastructure”. Mr Wilmot caveats: “Some toll fees can be quite expensive, and some motorists can be skeptical about the allocation of funds.

"These concerns often arise when drivers encounter poorly maintained roads in certain areas, leading to debates over whether toll earnings are fairly distributed or spent in a way that benefits the entire country.” He calls for “greater transparency around how toll funds are used”, which could help “rebuild trust amongst motorists and ensure toll systems achieve their intended purpose”. It seems then that road charges could be a force for good, despite that sinking feeling, but that relationship between toller and driver perhaps needs an overhaul.