Motorists using the M6 Toll this bank holiday weekend are being warned of a potentially ‘embarrassing’ payment problem that could leave them red-faced.
Experts predict the upcoming late May bank holiday weekend could be the busiest since 2019, with an expected 20 million trips being made over the four day period.
The RAC says roads are likely to be more congested than normal as the getaway coincides with an early summer heatwave.
Many motorists will be using the M6 Toll, with the motorway serving as one of the main arteries between the north and south of England.
But drivers are being cautioned that you CANNOT pay the Toll using either Apple or Android Pay - where you use your phone to pay via contactless.
Instead motorists need to have their physical bank card with them - a fact that is catching-out countless frustrated motorists as they scramble to find their wallets at the toll booth while traffic builds up behind them.
Graham Conway, managing director at Select Car Leasing, says: “Lots of us have now transitioned to the point where we use our phones to pay for everything and our wallets rarely see the light of day.
“So the fact that you can’t pay for the M6 Toll with your phone will be a shock to many motorists, particularly bank holiday day trippers who don’t often use that particular motorway.
“If your wallet is located somewhere you can’t reach it when you reach the toll booth - or worse still, back at home in a drawer - you could end up making bank holiday congestion a whole lot worse while irritating drivers waiting behind. It could get very embarrassing.”
One poster on the Pistonheads.com motoring forum said: “So, heading back down the M6 Toll and see lots of signs in the services for ‘contactless payments preferred at the toll’ and ‘Quickest way’ etc… I think great, I'll chuck all my stuff in the front and just need my phone. Get to the booth and stick my phone on the reader to be told ‘Please enter your card’... Argh! Scan around and see the small notes, the tolls do not accept Apply Pay / Google Wallet payments. So I can't get out of the car, as I'm too close to the booth - hazards on, back up a bit so I can get out, pop the front, get out, grab my wallet, jump back in, faff for card, pull forward, swipe and done. Luckily it was quiet so didn't p**s anyone off, but what a PITA!”
Another social media commented: “Managed to annoy lots of people on the M6 Toll. Had no idea you couldn’t use your phone to pay and then had the indignity of having to empty the contents of my boot in order to find my wallet, which was buried in the bottom of a suitcase.”
The FAQ section of the M6 Toll website says: “At present we are unable to accept Android and Apple pay. This is a service we hope to be able to offer our customers in the future.”
Select Car Leasing’s Graham Conway adds: “It might be that the authorities don’t want scores of people reaching for their phones on a busy motorway, as the gadgets can clearly be a distraction when driving.
“But there is an exception in the legal rules that govern mobile phone use, which says you can use such a device if ‘you’re making a contactless payment in a vehicle that is not moving, for example at a drive-through restaurant’.”
With the other major toll motorway in the UK - the Dartford Crossing - the charge isn’t paid as you drive, but you must instead pay the fee by midnight the day after you cross.
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