Chief executive of transport authority Centro, Geoff Inskip, has called for the M6 toll road to be nationalised at a fringe event at the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham.
Mr Inskip said the current policy meant the M6 was heavily congested with lorries and other vehicles while the toll road - which costs more than £5 per car - laid largely empty and unused. The usage of the M6 was resulting in more damage to the road surface and viaducts, according to Mr Inskip.
He said: 'There is massive capacity on the M6 Toll which is totally under used. We have got to deal with this and the solution is simple, bring it back into public ownership. There are a number of ways to do this.'
'It cost £500 million to build, so why is there £1 billion of debt attached to it? This is because it was refinanced by the banks and the shareholders took a £500 million dividend.'
He called on Whitehall to nationalise the road once the company which owns it, Midland Expressway, restructured its debts.
'Their only answer is to increase the tolls, which means less cars use the road and there is less maintenance.' He added.
His suggestion comes as the government plans to fund new ways of financing new roads and infrastructure, including tolling.
