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.


The Kelston toll road, set up by Mike Watts, charges motorists £2 to bypass roadworks (Picture: SWNS)

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.

Cars using the 365m toll road avoid a ten-mile detour (Picture: SWNS)

He explained: ‘Building a toll road is not an easy everyday thing that people do, and in fact this is the first private toll road in Britain in at least 100 years.

‘But I have had a 100 per cent positive response from the public on this.

Mike Watts spent £150,000 building the bypass, which is why he’s keen to recoup some of the costs (Picture: SWNS)

‘I think people are very grateful that we have taken the risk to keep pushing with this.

‘It’s not easy to build your own toll road, I can tell you that, but we’ve got there in the end.’