Toll Roads

[tumbledown]

The Ryehouse thread mentions a short toll road. Do any persist, distinct from toll motorways, bridges, tunnels and congestion zones?

 

[AlterEgo]

Wiki has a list of course https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toll_roads_in_Great_Britain

 

[tumbledown]

Thanks. The Porlock Hill entry in particular is fascinating.

 

[Llanigraham]

Their toll bridges list is not very accurate. There is no mention of the bridge over the Wye at Hay-on-Wye, or the bridge at Penmaenpool.

 

[stuu]

Their toll bridges list is not very accurate. There is no mention of the bridge over the Wye at Hay-on-Wye, or the bridge at Penmaenpool.

You can add them then, that is the point of Wikipedia

 

[SargeNpton]

The footbridge attached to the Barmouth rail bridge is a toll. However, the only time I used it the toll booth was unmanned.

 

[Ploughman]

But that is a bridge and not a road.

 

[thejuggler]

Yorkshire Water have a private road through their Esholt estate which attracts an annual toll for local residents.

Dalby and Kielder Forest drives are both toll roads.

 

[tumbledown]

Interesting. I assume the Esholt one doesn't go through the tunnel?
It looks like the Dalby one does not go from A to B, so more a paid visitor attraction than a toll road.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 19 Dec 2025 ==

I suppose the road through Tatton Park, Cheshire might qualify, though it isn't open every day.

 

[gazthomas]

The A55 in Anglesey is a shadow toll

 

[Bletchleyite]

The A55 in Anglesey is a shadow toll

What's a shadow toll?

 

[gazthomas]

What's a shadow toll?

It was built under a PFI and sensors count traffic across the island which in turn generates usage figures and a payment to the PFI operator. They weren't best pleased when COVID came along due to the quiet road!

 

[dgl]

The A55 in Anglesey is a shadow toll

As is the A35 (Puddletown bypass section) and A30 Honiton bypass.

 

[ABB125]

The A55 in Anglesey is a shadow toll

As is the A35 (Puddletown bypass section) and A30 Honiton bypass.

As is, I believe, the A1(M) between Huntingdon and Peterborough. If only the rest of the A1 had been upgraded to a similar standard... (Admittedly, most of this section being 4 lanes is a bit excessive, but it was built in anticipation of the rest of the route being done later.)

 

[thejuggler]

Interesting. I assume the Esholt one doesn't go through the tunnel?

Whilst the tunnel was opened by the Bradford mayor arriving in a Jowett from the tunnel mouth, I very much doubt it has seen a car since as it is the main outlet of the toilet waste from Bradford residents!

The road links Esholt to Apperley Bridge and is mainly used by parents of children attending Woodhouse Grove school.

 

[tumbledown]

Sounds worth a visit, and a drink at the Woolpack.

 

[BrandanM]

The final section of road leading to Trevose Head in Cornwall still had a toll charge in place the last time I visited a few years ago.

If I remember correctly it was £2 and there was a secure box to deposit it in, although I seem to recall that it was attended many years ago.

 

[DelW]

The final section of road leading to Trevose Head in Cornwall still had a toll charge in place the last time I visited a few years ago.

If I remember correctly it was £2 and there was a secure box to deposit it in, although I seem to recall that it was attended many years ago.

Another coastal one, the road leading to Crow Point, south west of Braunton in North Devon. IIRC it was £2 for years, though I think maybe £2.50 last time. Since there's a car park at the seaward end, use of which is included, it's arguably a car parking charge not a road toll, but it's 1.6 miles from the toll point to the car park. At busy times it's manned, at quieter times there's an automatic barrier.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Another coastal one, the road leading to Crow Point, south west of Braunton in North Devon. IIRC it was £2 for years, though I think maybe £2.50 last time. Since there's a car park at the seaward end, use of which is included, it's arguably a car parking charge not a road toll, but it's 1.6 miles from the toll point to the car park. At busy times it's manned, at quieter times there's an automatic barrier.

Another one on the North Devon coast, but for pedestrians rather than vehicles, a toll (or perhaps you'd just call it an entry fee) is charged for non-residents to access the village of Clovelly.

 

[D365]

The A55 in Anglesey is a shadow toll

As is the A35 (Puddletown bypass section) and A30 Honiton bypass.

As is, I believe, the A1(M) between Huntingdon and Peterborough. If only the rest of the A1 had been upgraded to a similar standard... (Admittedly, most of this section being 4 lanes is a bit excessive, but it was built in anticipation of the rest of the route being done later.)

And the A50 dual carriageway from Stoke-on-Trent to Derby.

 

[181]

I wondered about the road across Studland Heath. I understand that much of it is privately owned, and I remember travelling from Bournemouth to Purbeck by bicycle in the 1980s, and getting a ticket on which was printed 'Bournemouth-Swanage Motor Road and Ferry Company', and something like 'Warning: the toll road is subject to the Road Traffic Act'. My 1:50,000 map (fully revised 2000-2001, selected changes 2012, says 'Toll', albeit only a few hundred yards south of the ferry. But this news story from last November indicates that you currently don't have to pay unless you're using the ferry -- has that always been the case, and if not when did it become so?

 

[notverydeep]

I wondered about the road across Studland Heath. I understand that much of it is privately owned, and I remember travelling from Bournemouth to Purbeck by bicycle in the 1980s, and getting a ticket on which was printed 'Bournemouth-Swanage Motor Road and Ferry Company', and something like 'Warning: the toll road is subject to the Road Traffic Act'. My 1:50,000 map (fully revised 2000-2001, selected changes 2012, says 'Toll', albeit only a few hundred yards south of the ferry. But this news story from last November indicates that you currently don't have to pay unless you're using the ferry -- has that always been the case, and if not when did it become so?

I remember the toll booth on the road from family holidays to Purbeck, every year from the early 1970s until the mid 1980s during which period I think the toll booth close to the turn into Knoll Beach car park was still present and thus a charge applied to use the road up to Shell Bay, but not on the ferry. It was located approximately here. After that my holidays as a young adult mainly consisted of Interrails and my return to the area was infrequent, until I had my own children to take to the beach, by which time it had gone. I searched for the date of toll removal on Google and the normally reliable (for this sort of road history trivia) Sabre Roads, which does link to this site where a photo caption suggests that the toll booth moved to coincide with the introduction of the current vessel operating the Sandbanks Ferry.

The roundabout and toll plaza here [close to the ferry] were installed in the early 1990s in preparation for the new, larger ferry that was introduced in 1994. The roundabout provides access to a National Trust car park to the right.