A1M - The Secret TOLL Road That You Didn't Know You PAY - EVERY TIME YOU DRIVE IT!

[@DadgeCity]

The UK govt can borrow money at a reasonable rate of interest. The only reason to build roads, hospitals etc on a rental basis is if you want to line the pockets of your business buddies.

[@SonB288]

In fact, because of the UK's AAA credit rating at the time, it would have been a significantly better rate of interest than the loans taken out by private companies to finance their capital expenditure on DBFO projects. Madness.

[@Orion40000]

"Wait, so you're telling me that not only can I get the job done without impacting government finances, I can actually make money for my friends and leverage that for power for myself? Huh! Why isn't everyone doing this?" "Oh hey Neil! How are you? Yes, my wife DOES need a new kitchen! Why do you ask?"

[@terrylee9932]

Those is why the UK is going down the pan 😡

[@DS-cf1zc]

This is a practice buried in all governments since the early 90's - so affects both major parties - and oddly - PFI was used extensively during the last Labour Government, which we will still be paying for probably after I have passed away.

[@simonh870]

This is an example of why UK taxpayers pay out so much in tax but get so little in return.

[@dahorn100011]

It's short sightedness on a grand scale. It looks good financially as you don't have to borrow or spend government money initially. But then private companies cream it off. Another example was the severn toll. The toll was put in place to recover the cost of building the new bridge, yet it had been paid off several times over b the time the toll was abolished. The money was just being farmed off

[@jamiesedinburgh]

Taxes don't fund any of the UK government spending due to it being a fiat currency issuer. PFI and design build schemes are essentially ways for ukgov to give money to big business etc.

[@truedarklander]

@@jamiesedinburgh this yapping is beyond stupid, taxes don't fund the UK Government? Lmao? Ah, so just because you issue fiat you don't need taxes? Ridiculous. But you are right on one part, PFI and DBFO schemes are ways to funnel public money to the private sector

[@leftysheppey]

​@@dahorn100011similar is true for the Humber Bridge. It's been paid off, yet the toll keeps going up...

[@WreckItRolfe]

​@@dahorn100011 It's not short-sighted if your aim is to make money for you and your mates instead of improving the realm for its people

[@macbitz]

DBFO - Dodgy Benefits For Our-mates 😉

[@boomergames8094]

Dodgy Benefits For Oligarchs?

[@razghost2]

I always thought it was weird how the A1 randomly turns into a 3, sometimes 4 lane motorway and now it all makes sense

[@MrMWRMWR]

How come? If it was 2 lanes like the next section north, the revenue would be similar ...give or take the bottlenecks that would arise south of the Peterborough junction. Anyway, it's a very welcome stretch.

[@jungleboy1]

my mate calls it the autobahn lololollol

[@vannustube]

@@MrMWRMWR 2 lanes transport fewer vehicles at rush hour. double the lanes, double the number of vehicles passing through, double the ££

[@melissanewton7462]

Cancel the bloody contract now!!

[@johnb8956]

@@melissanewton7462that… by name… is not how contracts work

[@lord_chozo7341]

DBFO was invented as a sneaky way to get around government borrowing limits. It's still effectively government borrowing, but it doesn't appear in the official figures. It still needs paying back though, generally over 30 years for roads, and almost certainly costs a lot more in the long run than if the money had been borrowed.

[@MrMWRMWR]

...I'm wondering why the Scottish government haven't come up with DBFO schemes to circumvent their proclaimed lack of borrowing powers. There's still 18months to lay the trap for the poor numpties that inherit 2 decades-worth of mismanagement.

[@rayjennings3637]

Exactly what was said in the video!

[@abarratt8869]

The king of this kind of practice was Gordon Brown, who wouldn’t let PFI debt be counted in government borrowing. If I recall correctly one of the first things the Tories did in 2010 was to reverse that, and we all suddenly found out just how poor we really were. The frustrating thing about all this is that the equivalent deals in France for French infrastructure work. For example the Millau bridge is a PFI, but with far better terms for the French government than was typical for contracts in the UK. It’s not all good though; whilst the French motorways are very good, the reason they’re quiet is because the tolls the private companies collect are expensive. This is a source of political malcontent in France. On the whole, far better to just buy stuff, and not muck around trying to pretend it’s been got for nothing…

[@kramer26]

​@@rayjennings3637 Yeah, that's what I thought... 😅

[@andybrice2711]

Also sounds like a good way to funnel public money into the pockets of your cronies.

[@iangraham871]

Same as "PFI" hospitals, Jon. University Hospital Coventry was one such hospital built in the early part of this century - the bill to the taxpayer will be approx 10 times what the original build cost would have been. It's a criminal waste of taxpayers' money and it continues today! Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed my rant. I don't have a button especially for that :(

[@smorris12]

I read your rant and found that there was indeed a button specially for that

[@antonycharnock2993]

PFI, PPE...filling your mates pockets with taxpayers money. Nothing has really changed.

[@alanlauder1476]

And to add insult to injury many of the profits are 'off-shored' to avoid taxes.

[@testpilotian3188]

@@alanlauder1476a lot were also done on cost plus basis, costing even more than they should.

[@clivewilliams3661]

PFI contracts and their derivatives were a favorite of the Blair Govt to build the necessary things with added glitz and glamour and then let future Govts pay for it. As pointed out it would have been cheaper to borrow the money but doing it this way means that as there is no great capital requirement early on the coffers stay full and the incumbent Govt looks good, cementing the legacy of their leaders and leaving the problem for future Govts to pick up the tab. Its also not surprising that because of the method of procurement the individual organisations had the opportunity to add expensive features that simply would not get approval through the normal funding process, such that a goodly number of these projects became edifices to the vanity of their instigators.

[@roderickmain9697]

Secrets of the carriageway that they definitely dont want people to know about.

[@aoxby8037]

It would not surprise me if the companies behind these shaow toll roads had a few friends of the MPs at the time on their boards.

[@martineyles]

Or perhaps just a gentleman's agreement to add them to the board when they step down from parliament.

[@johnclements6614]

AMEC Civil Engineering, no longer operates as a civil contractor sold its civil division to Morgan Sindall. Alfred MacAlpine. Kellogg Brown and Root. US engineering design company. Dragados. Large Spanish/ multi national construction company with experience in toll roads.

[@philiprice7875]

@@martineyles and of course the life peerage for the board members

[@MartinCook-kg1vn]

It bypassed Huntingdon - John Major’s constituency. Any link?

[@CS-zn6pp]

It happens all the time, just do some research and it's all there. All the major parties have been doing it since the 60's, as they all do it no one calls them out for it.

[@iamaparanoidandroid1]

This is interesting - Re your point on maintenance: I live and work close to the section of the A419 mentioned in your list of 'other roads'. This is coming to the end of its PFI period, and there is a sudden drive to sort out all the lumpy and bumpy bits and fix the overgrown vegetation issues. Almost like the contract has penalty clauses if the road is not handed over to Highways England in a fit state. So, whilst they are free to run it into the ground during the contract they will have to put that right at the end before it can be adopted...

[@philtucker1224]

Yes agreed, it’s just scandalous!

[@alexwoods594]

I travel on the A50 when seeing family in Leicester. A lot of the road maintained by connect roads is made of concrete. I'm thinking that's to reduce the maintenance costs and give it a life span that spans over the length of the contract despite some contention to concrete roads.

[@philtucker1224]

@@alexwoods594 Also reinforced concrete is often used where ground may have been deemed unstable.

[@nebredral]

Like that southbound tourism sign between Norton and Portrack that didn’t get fixed for over TEN years 😂

[@johnclements6614]

@@alexwoods594 Concrete roads last far longer than black top most of the time. But they are more expensive if you ever have to put a trench across them.

[@Sam-es2gf]

Privatise profits, socialise losses has been the motto of this country for decades at this point. Latest example being the royal mail. Publicly owned making £300m a year. Sold for £900m. And now we'll get a worse service. Bravo.

[@Scientist538]

100% I've noticed its on both sides of the political aisle and something you see across the world.

[@gdutfulkbhh7537]

@@Scientist538 We have two sides? I can't tell the difference between them.

[@robinbennett3531]

my brother told me the price of a business in NZ is 3 years profit (or was it turnover?)

[@superted6960]

As opposed to the Post Office, publicly owned and a model of virtue

[@clivewilliams3661]

The Post Office is worthless, I am surprised that they are getting £900M. The liability to the Post Masters is huge and the potential for staff pay claims is firmly on the cards, moreso now Labour is in power and capitulates to any public sector pay claim.

[@PhatSimey]

The Dartford crossing is even worse, we continue to pay the tolls even long after the project was paid for- which was the initial plan. Not really surprising.

[@Iamtheliquor]

Try the Mersey tunnels. Opened in 1936 and 1971. Still tolled to this day

[@justbob588]

And the Severn bridge...

[@AutoShenanigans]

Well.. we don't pay a toll on the dartford bridge... we pay a congestion charge.. its not the same (its the same)

[@Iamtheliquor]

@@justbob588 The Severn bridges have been free for years

[@bobstirling6885]

@@justbob588 Severn Bridge tolls ended years ago, once the agreed sum had been collected, and the bridge was handed over to the Highways department.

[@carrickrichards2457]

'PFI' was popular until 2010. Blair and Brown loved them but neither they nor the civil service knew how to draw up a commercial contract. Police, Ambulance, Fire, Health Services and schools are all still paying way over the odds for things that are sometimes empty, unuseable, unfinished or under used.

[@richardk5246]

They knew exactly what they were doing.

[@NutDriverLefty]

Maybe look into who owns those companies, and their relationships, if any, with elected and appointed officials.

[@bobinscotland]

It's all over the place... HS2, Foreign Aid, PFI deals, TITP (didn't Branson make a fortune from one of those), and these TOLL ROAD DEALS... every politician must go on a CRIMINALITY COURSE to learn how to be THIS corrupt and get away with it.

[@alanrobertson7762]

I live in Alconbury and before the A1 was upgraded there were traffic jams every weekend from Alconbury to Norman Cross where there was a roundabout. I love this road!

[@Jernaumg]

100%. As a local I couldn't agree more. If this is what privatised roads look like bring them on.

[@TwinPotMan]

@@Jernaumg Absolutely, and those who benefit from the improvement should fit the bill. I've never been near Alconbury, so can I have a tax refund please?

[@Jernaumg]

@@TwinPotManThat's not how any form of taxation works. I haven't had any use for a school since the 80s but my taxes still pay for them and so they should.

[@gravemind6536]

If I've driven the road loads of times it is never congested probably slight overkill for the area but that's a good thing.

[@annabelholland]

They need to remove the remaining roundabouts on the A1 south of Alconbury. Same with the ones on the A11, A3, A404, A46 (Coventry), etc.

[@c.jones-yt]

Upgrading that section made enormous sense: before it was built, the M11-A14 and the A1 were both funneling traffic into the old A1, which was only two lanes each way, had numerous minor side turnings, and was massively hobbled by an at-grade roundabout at Norman Cross. It could be argued that the new specs were overkill, but I'd rather that than a half-assed job. As for why the government paid so much extra to build the road as a DBFO, the answer is simple: borrowing money would show up in the national debt whereas a DBFO disguises it.

[@KindredBrujah]

And by doing it this way, the problem becomes one for future governments, which Tories generally don't care about. Amusingly enough, given their name: "Conservative"

[@matthewshedden3567]

Compared to the other roads local to it, it’s actually in fairly good condition and they are reworking some bits at the moment. Never have a traffic issue on this part of the A1 and I have to use it twice a day!

[@norfolkngood8960]

This road upgrade was needed for at least a decade before it was built given the huge explosion of housing in Peterborough in the 80s and 90s and now the continued growth via Hampton. As you say it fixed a lot of side road and junctions. The "new" junction joining the A1 to the Parkways is soooo much better than it used to be. There was always accidents or near misses with people crossing the carriageway for right turns etc and less said about Norman Cross the better. I was living in Fletton at the time and I was driving for a living when that stretch opened it was incredible the time savings

[@c.jones-yt]

@@KindredBrujah To be fair, the national debt would also have been a problem for future governments...

[@peterkinch6857]

Wow !! Corruption never stops , once again another well presented video cheers for bringing this to are attention,

[@tedf1471]

Not corruption but unrestrained capitalism.

[@peterkinch6857]

@@tedf1471 fair comment but why are there no signs up say this is a leased motorway , M6 toll has them Dartford crossing does , what other reason than to hide the fact .

[@oliabid-price4517]

'our attention'?

[@MarkNormanNZ]

This is corruption as it was the government’s choice to enter into a contract highly harmful to the state/taxpayer. Hard to prove but seems highly likely that some individuals made some money out of this - after all, that’s almost the point of the Conservative party’s existence

[@PaulJaYmes]

George Monbiot wrote about this kind of thing at length in his 2000 book "Captive State" - not just roads but as you say, hospitals, bridges, schools and loads of other stuff that we're still all paying through the nose for. We may think of Monbiot as an infuriating leftie Guardian columnist but with this he was bang on the money as long as 24 years ago. If you've ever wondered "why is tax so high but everything so shit, where's all the money going" I think we can see an answer. And worst of all if any of these successive governments had simply borrowed the money in the normal way, it would all cost a halleva lot less.

[@philiprice7875]

the new hospital in liverpool was so late we could have refused to accept it but that would have meant that the banks who had loaned the money to a bankrupt company would have lost £ and we cant have that no can we?

[@redshift3]

@@philiprice7875 Here's a hospital. Do you want it? No?

[@KindredBrujah]

The thing about 'infuriating leftie Guardian columnists' is that they're often correct, because they've generally based their position on research and facts.

[@galahadthreepwood]

You're right about Monbiot being an infuriating leftie Guardian climatehoax advocating piece of shit, but yeah, sometimes an infuriating leftie Guardian climatehoax advocating piece of shit can be right.

[@crewealex1125]

The purpose of pfi was to keep the debt off the balance sheet, which was deemed important at the time. Even that benefit has gone away now!

[@Марк.Фетнов]

Wow, such a genius way to make your rich mates richer at the publics expense. Double plus good!!

[@piggybakkers]

I've driven that cha-ching point a thousand times at least and never knew. Brilliant channel Jon Mate. Keep up the good work.

[@TsiolkovskySportingLocks]

public sector takenn for a ride by the private sector... wow what a shocker!!!

[@MelanieRuck-dq5uo]

This is an essential video. Thank you for making it - not something I would say to the people who built that 14 miles of motorway!

[@bfapple]

It’s a pretty impressive dragstrip.

[@61js]

It was actually part of a project to widen the A1 as a whole, but like HS2 became a balls up and was ditched. Sadly, it doesn't look like HS2 will be.

[@bfapple]

@@61js why would one ditch a halfway built railway?

[@andymerrett]

@@bfapple I thought they already had ditched large parts of it.

[@bfapple]

@@andymerrett exactly - so why ditch the bits already under construction.

[@graemeclifford6358]

When you said it was a lovely bit of road... you should try it on a rainy day ! It was built with insufficient camber. So in heavy rain the water doesnt run off the carriageway resulting in a great risk of aqua-planning

[@johnclements6614]

Motorways and all but minor roads are not built with a camber. A camber is a curved road surface. Roads have been built with a cross fall for some considerable time as that allows the tarmac to be laid by machine..

[@pSynrg303]

@@johnclements6614 It's still referred to as camber, even in engineering circles, yes, otherwise known as cross-slope. Normal Camber: The road is higher in the middle and slopes down toward the edges. Less common is reverse camber: The road slopes down toward the center.

[@johnclements6614]

@@pSynrg303 All the engineers on the UK roads that I have worked on as an engineer have called it cross fall. Why call it by something that is only used on minor side roads.

[@rowly132]

A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.

[@Rosb1ff]

Who cares what it's called. Spray and standing water are an issue on this piece of road. I was told it's because of the kind of tarmac used. But that could be wrong

[@charliemansonUK]

I lived in Brampton at the southern end of the construction, it was a terrible stretch of tree enclosed dual carriageway with Alconbury hill slowing trucks down to 30mph. The construction was long and tedious but a vast improvement even when only partially open. It was supposed to be continued north but never was.

[@charliemansonUK]

Oh, and by dual carriageway I don't mean long straight roads, it had junctions without sliproads and corners you literally couldn't see round! The trees made it pitch black at night too.

[@8888swatt]

Yeah, me too in Brampton back in the 90s. IIRC The south bound lanes still exist as a B road in places and you can see how narrow and tricky it was. I recall lots of serious accidents on that stretch too.

[@pearofgeeksii8156]

This is how we become one of the richest countries in the world with a GDP over £3tn despite having a small population, so rich that we could literally have a standard of living where EVERYONE, including recent migrants, could be in the high earner tax bracket; but we're so corrupt and so broke we cannot even afford to collect the bins, have bankrupt councils, a broken healthcare system that isn't working, roads with more pot holes than the surface of mars and apparently we cannot afford our disabled people, to house veterans, or provide legal aid to the poor. But apparently its a tragedy when a British billionaire dies in a superyacht accident because he lacked the common sense not to sail in a fricking Tornado? (but apparently rich people are smart and earn their money with their smarts *shrug*)

[@AI-Records24]

Always makes me laugh when people say things like “ooh I’ll never go to Mexico it’s really corrupt” erm……😅

[@David-xp7sr]

Absolutely, one hundred percent .. Britain is corrupt from bottom to top, from the Parish Councillor easing through a garage planning consentfor his buddy in the pub to dropping 300 mill contract to noble lady sitting next to you in the Lords. His Maj taking Saudi cash in carrier bags whilst being the biggest tax dodger by far and lecturing everyone else on civic responsibility At least in the much disposed third world the petty burocrat openly sticks out a hand for an honest bribe.

[@associatedblacksheepandmisfits]

Too many self-centered offshore moneybags.😢

[@pierzing.glint1sh76]

but yeah immigrants are the problem

[@davidhoward7400]

Jesus wept, I've actually lost IQ reading that.

[@lefthandedspanner]

the main reason that part of A1(M) is so huge is because it was the first stage of a much larger project that never materialised, namely, extension of M11 from Cambridge to A1/A1(M), bypassing A14 - the existing A1 was ill-equipped to act as terminal point for another motorway with the new section of A14 this has now been achieved, though not in the form or the location that was originally planned

[@bfapple]

The eight lanes between Alconbury and Sawtry is arguably two too many.

[@SouthPaw1805]

@@bfapple The logic is fairly sound. Build the whole thing at once based on predicted traffic levels at the end of the contract to save years of disruption (and a tonne of money, natch) widening it later.

[@lb57508]

This is so good to know. More people should understand.

[@gca259]

Another splendid video! RE: Government/private sector 'investment'... Private Finance Initiative (PFI) prison cells have window frames set flush on the inside of the window opening i.e. no window sill. This is because there is a cost in cleaning window sills (I forget the exact figure but believe it to be around 5 minutes labour per window). So, 500 window sills x 5 minutes each = 42 hours labour. Over a 30 year contract it makes some people very wealthy while denying prisoners anywhere to put pics of their families etc. Yes, this is the level of detail such contracts go into.

[@Ayrshore]

your explanation makes no sense, as prisoners are responsible for cleaning their own cells (no cost)

[@kludgie]

3:42 Why is one of John’s tshirt sleeves much longer than the other one?

[@xgford94]

Now I can’t see anything else 😂

[@edmn]

Nice subtle cover of Money by ABBA.

[@caff1970]

You will be happy to know Scotland abolished tolls in 2008 , at the same time the Erskine Bridge Toll booths were removed,. You know the one you've already done a vid on. research is a pain 🤣🤣soz couldnt resist lol but visiting wont cost you extra. great Vids keep em coming

[@sixtyshippee]

No doubt they were built with British Taxpayers money and their in general far less used than the english motorway network much of which is constantly overloaded.

[@Brickhazard]

I would love for you do some investigations into the A1 wentbridge repairs. Going to be nearly 3 years to resurface a few hundred yards.

[@kyahclarke2889]

Or the ouse bridge debacle😂😂

[@lenrichardson7349]

It is however a good section of road, and I'm thankful for it every time I go up and down the A1.

[@Goldenoldie49]

Surprised the media hasn’t taken this up! Well done for publicising this.

[@johnclements6614]

It has been reported on for years.

[@HeroAntagonist]

Well that was eye opening. I knew about the PFI schemes which proved money pits, didn't know about these roads

[@crazykittenvideos855]

Every day’s a school day. Thanks mate I enjoyed the video but not the being shafted part!

[@mrglide7078]

Always wondered why there was an 8 lane motorway seemingly starting at nowhere and ending nowhere. Reason/myth one: it was built as a demonstration for some future motorway tech. Reason/myth two: it was part of a wider upgrade project to get road freight quicker to Felixstowe via the A14 It is a very nice stretch though and not terribly busy

[@johnclements6614]

It was built with a Continuous Reinforced Concrete Pavement (CRCP), one of a few such roads built at the time but it was the contractors decision. CRCP is a reinforced concrete road surface with no joints. Since there are no joints no repair bills for the joints. The slabs can be thousands of meters long, basically stop at bridges, very soft ground or the end of the contract.

[@jacko791]

That list does contain some of my favourite roads though. Maddening that they have to be funded this way but top notch roads, I'm torn

[@Stephen_Lafferty]

A nice jazz arrangement of 'Money, Money, Money' to end today's interesting video, Jon!

[@David_Crayford]

Thank you. It's so different I didn't recognise it.

[@marieascot]

Thank you I did not recognise it.

[@markandrewsmith9313]

Wow, this is the first time I have heard of DBFO roads.

[@johncamp2567]

JON: you are a very unique type of journalist! This video even more-excellent than usual!! Well done, sir! 🛣️

[@AEC139]

We have vehicle tax and fuel duty but not every vehicle is taxed many are exempt. The roads are paid for from general taxation, everybody who pays tax pays for the roads thats the problem apart from local roads which are funded from council tax, some countries have a road users charge like New Zealand and the roads are superb, they also repaired the earthquake damaged roads with urgency.

[@therealcallumparry]

Same as the A1(M) Darrington to Dishforth, A19 Dishforth to Tyne Tunnel and lots more

[@paulhovell8876]

And I wouldn't be surprised to discover that certain government individuals that were involved in this deal have major shareholdings in this company !

[@LickorishAllsorts]

Or (A35) the banks that finance them.

[@philiprice7875]

i asked a bookie what was the odds? he refused to give a price

[@pacmans-world]

I love learning new things about our road network. 👍 Keep up the good work. 😎😎👍👍💪💪

[@WangoBango]

John. Just wanted to say 2 things that are of great importance. 1) I was just thinking to my self watching this vid, how quickly you blew up. I watched your early vids before you started gaining traction. Honestly, I’m really happy for you as you seem like a nice bloke. I’ve watched another KZbinr who plays geoguesser from that start basically. He blew up and takes his fan bases for mugs. Forgetting what made him popular, mixed with very few uploads. I know you will, but always stay humble and don’t take your fans for granted. I know you won’t. There has been bigger KZbinrs in past with millions of subs one day and next they become irrelevant. 2) mate, why can’t we see your hair. We do not care about receding hairlines. Or baldy slap heads. If you have got a massive mole there, own it. Please do 🇬🇧 10 top doggin spots. Kind regards

[@GarryMcGovern]

I've no idea how you come up with these stories, but my god, absolutely superb work doing so!! Once again, top job my man, top job!!

[@jamiedebenham9552]

I once used this stretch on the way home to Norwich from Newcastle, mainly because I wanted to use the road instead of going the normal way and cutting across to the A14 before the A1M started. Now I feel slightly guilty at unnecessarily costing us all some money and contributing to the bill. Sorry folks.

[@MorrisPV]

Travelled this stretch twice yesterday and never knew. Thanks for enlightening us...

[@Frenchcrop]

Inneresting, didn’t know this. As the French say, I will sleep less dum tonight. Though definitely more indignant..

[@GavinDavies-tc6yn]

Thanks for letting us know. Hopefully, through awareness, we can stop the madness and waste of money.

[@SBEARD12345]

Joyous news... Two new service stations due at junction 27+28 of M25. Let the series continue

[@template16]

An excellent video. Had no idea about this road I've used many times.

[@RogerGarner]

Rip off, yes but on the positive side, that section of road is actually well kept! If anything happens to the surface they just resurface it... kinda like we wish our entire network was kept - pothole free!🤣

[@johnclements6614]

The DBFO companies get charged, do not get some of the shadow toll; if a lane is blocked, has a pot hole etc. The department of transport have inspectors whose job it is to find problems and so stop payment. Therefore the DBFO will do repairs as fast as possible to get the the full toll. It is basically a thirty year lane rental.

[@Jernaumg]

@@johnclements6614 That makes sense. Also adds to the reasons to love this piece of road which it seems from the comments everyone that actually relies on it does.

[@micb3rd]

I had no idea and considering how many times I driven this bit of road since 2000 Jan. It was the first bit of motorway I ever drove. All the best Jon. - Michael Bradshaw.

[@ALMELMUSIC]

Simply the best traffic and road guru on the youtube. That A1 stretch has 4 lanes AND a hard shoulder and I have said for a while it's possibly one of the best stretches of motorway in the UK.

[@willpoundstone71]

4 lanes in each direction for 75,000 vehicles a day means that it is massively overbuilt

[@ALMELMUSIC]

@@willpoundstone71 thats the exact point of why I like it! It's probably the only stretch of road in this country that is futureproofed!!!

[@ExperiencersInternational]

​@@ALMELMUSIC having 4 lanes is encouraging more people to drive though, we should have less lanes if we actually don't want to encourage people to drive and use other solutions

[@ALMELMUSIC]

@@ExperiencersInternational hahaha. One word ... freight. Freight is increasing exponentially and the population is growing at a massive rate too. People won't stop driving to get where they need to go. Nit in our lifetime anyway. This stretch of motorway is the only one that works in the UK.

[@willpoundstone71]

@@ExperiencersInternational Why don't we want to encourage people to drive?

[@calumthornton1918]

The A30 doesn't go to Bere Regis, but there is a nice bit of new road on the A35 between Dorchester to Bere Regis

[@OfficeMackerel]

I had no idea DBFOs were a thing! It makes sad sense though. I thought whenever I saw inductive loops on roads it was to monitor traffic flow and conditions. I didn't think money could be extracted from it 😢

[@garygoldsmith3887]

Great video on the hidden costs and budgets. Often thought about situations like this, not just motorways though...!! Sure there are so many more such hidden budget situations around. Thanks for video....

[@TransportGeekery]

The parallel all purpose road is free to use if anyone wants to save the taxpayer some money

[@antonydewar7875]

I remember sometime in the 90s kipping in my car early in the morning (drove down from north England early to miss traffic) in the Little Chef car park at Alconbury waiting for it to open to get breakfast. In the field behind me the hedge suddenly disappeared as a bulldozer started the first day of building this section. Such fun.

[@chatboy25]

The A55 across Anglesey was negotiated with the Welsh Office in Cardiff. At the time, the volume of traffic using the A5 to Holyhead didn't warrant the investment. As you say the amount of revenue collected is related to the number of vehicles using the road. Since it opened, the number of vehicles using the road has increased by ten times, so the revenue being collected has multiplied. However the Welsh Office no longer exists, and the Welsh government now has to pick up the tab. They are obviously cheesed off that they have been left with this cost which they never agreed to in the first place. The road is maintained by the company, but it's still "a nice little earner"

[@stevekelly5166]

Make is another 20mph zone.

[@Vtarngpb]

Wait someone found the cheese? 😅

[@markiliff]

This might just be the first ever Brexit benefit: with so many containers now travelling direct from Ireland to France, Welsh gov is saving bigtime.

[@dave55uk]

Very interesting. I saw this motorway being built as I was, at the time, a trainee bus driver, and my trainer, an avid Eddie Stobart fan, used to take me and my colleagues up and down the A1 to Peterborough quite often - no guesses why. Never realised it was a DBFO.

[@antonycharnock2993]

And I wonder who the ultimate owner of this private company could possibly be aligned with politically.

[@philiprice7875]

whom ever offers the largest profit margin as a tax break

[@ianhart3048]

Love this channel. Learn something new (and to me, very interesting) every time a new video pops up. 😄

[@lfoster7601]

If you drove that to/from work (a lot of people do), at 200 work days a year x2 journeys x 85p, you'd clock up £340 of tolls, not bad for a £160 contribution in VED... That means some poor b*st*rd in Aberdeen, who lives with the undualled A9 is paying for someone to regularly drive a nice motorway near Perterborough... As a boss of mine once said of an outsource provider "If you;re getting screwed and you know it, all you can do is lie back and enjoy it"...

[@AEC139]

Depending on the vehicle and registration date you maybe exempt vehicle tax, you maybe surprised by the number of vehicle owners who pay no vehicle tax and don’t forget EV owners pay no fuel duty £2:40 per gallon at the moment

[@MrMatStace]

VED all goes into the general taxation pot, so you could just as easily say that a 16 year old supermarket checkout worker in Truro who walks to work and doesn't own a car is paying for people to regularly d rive a nice motorway near Peterborough (and it really is nice, I drive it often. Thanks, Cornish checkout worker)

[@61js]

​@AEC139 Actually, from April 1st, all vehicles will pay road tax regardless. Back to how it was, when it was a tax to use the road and nothing to do with emissions.

[@andymerrett]

@@61js It's still not road tax and there will still be bands depending on vehicle type.

[@MO_OKAYU_GU]

Hello, I am someone who regularly drives this nice motorway near Peterborough. Thank you for paying! /s

[@chrismoule7242]

"PFI" in a nutshell. I use this road regularly, and have done since 1993. It's far, far better now than it was before it was upgraded and widened. But this is the price that we pay for nice things.

[@zulu3621]

This is exactly the type of thing we as citizens need to know about. How government works and how we the tax payers are shafted. I’ll bet everyone involved in this project got a nice little paid day to see it completed including politicians🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬

[@phaeton_buggy1575]

Sorry I disagree, those at the top may have had a 'nice little pay day' but the workers who did the work would have been shafted just like everybody else.

[@zulu3621]

@@phaeton_buggy1575 yes I agree with you on that.

[@onlineo2263]

This type of project is reported on all the time in private eye, sometimes the guardian. Virtually every other news media fails to point out the massive overall costs to these projects. Presumably they are too chummy with government or the people who are making the money.

[@heckelphon]

The southern part of that road, roughly from the top of Stangate Hill at Alconbury northwards to Glatton was played around with by the Road Research Laboratory in the mid 1960s. They had several different test surfaces on it over the years to check for relative wear and surface noise, for which there were warning signs. The southbound carriageway ended up under the B1043, while the northbound got chewed up in the margin between the current A1(M) and the side road. I don't know whether anything useful was learned from the experiment, or why it was that particular road as the test site.

[@davidcann6021]

I wonder what corrupt people own these companies... Everyone gets shafted for everything, pay your council tax, pay to get into your now privatised leisure centre skimming money off the top.

[@himofthenorth-east]

I can add this to the list of things I did not know about. Great video.

[@RobPearson286]

A flip side of this is that these type of roads are almost always far FAR better maintained than normal public roads.

[@thesmallerhalf1968]

That’s because you pay so much more for it. While guaranteeing a dividend for the shareholders. So are you winning in the end? After all how much extra money goes to the company that could instead be spent on the rest of the public road infrastructure? Think water in the UK.

[@RobPearson286]

@@thesmallerhalf1968 considering it's a tiny minority of roads and the amount of money is piss in the wind on the national budget I'm comfortable with it

[@AnthonyHull1]

if it's publicly funded, they can decide not to invest in maintaining it. But in an FPI contract, they would have to comply with the maintainance terms. If only we had a way of doing this without paying a middle man and share holders!

[@iainathairydog]

Of course, if the private company wasn't creaming off £500,000,000 in excess profits, there could be more money to spend on fixing other roads

[@SimonWallwork]

It's funny how things change. I remember a night in a phone box in Alconbury- it was just the A1 then. Me and my chum were absolutely freezing, and huddled in a phone box to try and stay warm. It was in 1976. The air base had RF-4Cs at the time but we didn't see much. We were both in the Army based at Catterick.

[@DPNCO]

Great video again. 4:47

[@rayathehall]

I drove up (and down this) yesterday from Sheffield to Essex - I was thinking why it was suddenly well kept and then not again!

[@markblackford7271]

Hey Jon, If you ever wanted to get into power to try and sort this sort of shite out I would vote for you

[@JD-wn3cc]

Could do with Jon as Roads minister and martin lewis for Chancellor

[@kurtschnippel1053]

This section is like a race track - wide open - low traffic - loved driving it back in 04 when I was in the UK!

[@paulbrenning7022]

Everything in life is a "Pay Toll".

[@JohnSmithShields]

That is deep.

[@Jonny_The_Organism]

My pockets are very shallow

[@ablestringer9063]

Sounds like a song by The Smiths

[@philolson679]

WOW - never knew anything about this - well done John

[@binquisitive]

Some Tory will be linked with the company who built the road, guaranteeing he or she millions! When it doesn’t make sense it makes money!

[@dajogb3330]

“Some Tory”? You think there’ll only be one? Imagine all the associated companies contracting to, supplying and supporting these builds and the tories connected through directorships, consultancies and financial donations to them and the party.

[@krismorgan]

Tory,liebour etc they are all the same scum!

[@Scientist538]

That's the whole meaning of the government and no it doesn't matter on the party. It's true for every country, it's corruption

[@williamc6774]

OR they could "just" have been left to compete with the NHS for the money and see who won?

[@DavidB773]

Just like the co-vid PCR tests, PPE and App!?

[@davidnorris6262]

Well that was an eye opener cheers for the video

[@paulbennett772]

Chief problem is ideology. Both major parties (I belong to another!) know that more & better roads must be built to carry people & freight, since the railways were decimated. The Road Fund was supposed to cover this, but is now merely a car ownership tax whose income is not hypothecated.

[@karlmitchell1307]

I use the A19 quiet a lot, and there is a stark difference between the north and south of the Tyne portions of the road, and now i know why the southern portion of the road is so well maintained.

[@GBPaddling]

I have a 37yr old Neighbour who actually got very offended when I told him that the 'Whole World is corrupt'......Didn't speak to me for many weeks, and I thought it would be a permanent situation. Imagine being a 37yr old and not thinking that Politicians, Governments and Big Business aren't corrupt? These People get to vote........🤕🤕🤕

[@antonycharnock2993]

Does he have a strange fondness for Nigel Farage?

[@dismalfist]

You live next to Kwasi Kwarteng?

[@GBPaddling]

@@antonycharnock2993 Total opposite...A Lefty.

[@enisra_bowman]

@@antonycharnock2993 if you say "that the further you go right, the worse it gets", he would throw his Daily Mirror after you and go binge drinking in a Weatherspoons

[@robinbennett3531]

there's something wrong with human nature ture ture

[@mrmando69]

John You Are Awesome. Thanks for another great video and information.

[@stevekelly5166]

Whilst I always learn something from you Jon, I never knew this was a thing. Chuh-Ching. We need to stand outside at 7pm every Thursday and applaud this audacity.

[@ColinWatters]

That bit of A1M is fantastic. Its so well built it never seems to have a pothole or need other repairs. Wish other roads wer built to the same standard.

[@stephengosling1997]

By using private investment to build infrastructure we not only pay more but also free up public sector borrowing for some other priorities. The alternatives are either only do the infrastructure PSBR restrictions will allow or do a “Truss” and borrow beyond the treasury’s capacity. It seems daft, but borrowing from the future, from our future tax contributions (so, by committing to overpay over a long time) doesn’t violate Treasury rules while borrowing from the market does. 🤷‍♂️

[@hublanderuk]

My Dad worked for a company on the A13 which had to put in CCTV in to visually check the vehicles being counted. Since skip lorries were too short to be counted as lorries. Also he told me the cameras were also to check the availably of the A13. Since if the A13 got closed in the direction of Rush Hour traffic between certain times of day they go fined for it. So most works are carried out at night for this reason.

[@johnclements6614]

The cameras were to check for availability. There had to be a camera pointing at every single square meter of road. If a camera stopped working then they did not get paid because they could not prove that that part of the road was open to traffic. They even got fined is there was a pile of leaves on the footpath after a windy night, footpath not available for use and or litter (leaves were litter in the contract)

[@larkhill2119]

A job fit for a prince if you ask me. Companies house makes interesting reading when you click on people and what else they direct.

[@robgaskell2391]

Holy cow. I've always wondered why that section is different

[@NewCastleIndiana]

Get those guys to put induction loops on the beachheads of those inflatable rafts.

[@RichieWilliams]

WOW - never knew that, eye opener... Thank you.

[@PkedSome]

"When the conservative government..." Shocking I tell you

[@sticky70]

And carried on by the labour government under Tony Blair. Shocking I tell you.

[@ethelmini]

Blair was no better & I'm not holding my breath over Starmer & Reeves.

[@Jernaumg]

Bear in mind that governments of both parties spent tens (maybe hundreds) of millions on planning and starting the construction of the upgrades North, South, East and West (A14 E/W) of this section and then Blair cancelled the lot basically flushing all that money down the toilet. "Poorer and nothing to show for it" is the motto for all Labour governments even the ones that pretend to be less mental.

[@willtricks9432]

Only been on that road twice as I usually take the country route. Next time I have to go alomg one one the listed roads I will Ollie the Looparea in my pick up truck, Old skateboard Tricks still work i'm sure.

[@El_Smeghead]

Capitalism at its best, successfully explained for the layman by Jon. Well done, sir.

[@Pugwash.]

Very interesting. I've been up and down that very stretch a few times over the years and wondered why it was 4 lanes. I used to live in Peterborough and you could probably ask why they spent so much money putting extra lighting on the roads and then turned two-thirds of them off "to save money".

[@BromideBride]

The A30 doesn't go to Bere Regis. Nor even as far as Shitterton. 😊 The A35 goes from Honiton to Shitterton and Bere Regis. At Shitterton you can take the A31 toward Portsmouth or stay on the A35 to Bournemouth. I don't care about the error, I'm really just enjoying saying Shitterton 🚾.

[@LickorishAllsorts]

With a few piddles on the way.

[@BromideBride]

@@LickorishAllsorts more than a few, there's enough to leave a puddle

[@LickorishAllsorts]

@@BromideBride I believe that you can blame Queen Victoria for that one.

[@WagnerGimenes]

Great work there, Jon.

[@chrisbentleywalkingandrambling]

Wait until we all have to pay by the mile out of our own pockets too. Madness.

[@mrlten2907]

They have plans to do that in The Netherlands. And with the system they've designed the Dutch will also pay per mile while driving abroad (in their own car of course).

[@mrchom]

We already do this through fuel duty anyway. You just pay less per mile for more fuel efficient cars.

[@Yorkshireasaurus]

Can’t come soon enough. If you make unnecessary journeys by car you’ll have to pay. 🤞

[@phaeton_buggy1575]

I don't see what's wrong with that, you travel futher you pay more, seems fair to me.

[@Gordanovich02]

@@Yorkshireasaurus Define "unnecessary".

[@oliverstemp9132]

Thank you for bringing this topic up