From The Metro:
A British businessman who has grown tired of council works closing off a road near his home has built his own detour, and is now charging motorists £2 each to use it.
Mike Watts, 62, was forced to drive around a section of the A431 between Bath and Bristol because a landslide had closed the road in February. Council works were due to carry on until the end of the year.
Not wanting to wait that long, Watts employed his own crew of road workers and built a 365m-long bypass in the field next to the closed-off section.
He spent £150,000 of his own money, so has now set up a toll booth and is charging cars £2 to drive along his road (and £1 for motorbikes). Regular users can bulk-buy 12 passes for £10.
Motorists can avoid the toll, of course, but it means having to make a ten-mile detour, so most are happy to pay the money.
Fair enough, people are happy to pay £2 to take the five-mile route (99% of which is on public road and 1% which is on his private road and pay £2 for the 1%) rather than the fifteen-mile route over free public roads.
But why does he get all £2 of it?
In theory, the council could demand a £2 toll for using the public stretch between the next junction and the private bit; maybe the saving is not worth £4 and so he and the council have each other over barrel, split the difference and get £1 each.
Debate Magazine
