Clearly Europeans believe something different, that constructing
motorways is rather like handing dollops of money over to a
select few. This is considered unnacceptable, and hence their
roads are tolled.

In some countries yes, but then their petrol tax is a lot lower to
compensate. However, Germany's motorways are not tolled, and yet they have
the most comprehensive motorway network in Europe. Why can't we?

Our motorways weren't tolled from the start as it was believed that if
you have a road, you may as well let as many people use it as they
want, as there is (was) zero marginal cost of extra cars. This isn't
really the case anymore due to congestion.

Congestion which is due to cars becoming more affordable, hence not only the
rich can afford them; and also women breaking free and getting their own car
after decades of being told to stay at home and do the cooking.
Surely these trends are a very good thing.

The thing is it is about choices. Individuals choose whether or not to
drive, whether or not to use the M6toll or the old M6. With things
like healthcare, there is no choice involved, you either need it or
you don't.

No, it's the exact same argument. Either you take the free option (M6 / NHS)
or the pay-extra option (M6 Toll / Private health care). However, with the
amount of taxes we pay, we should not have to suffer a substandard M6 or
NHS, and we shouldn't even have to consider paying a premium for a decent
service.

This is the heart of the problem, any Government subsidy or tax
effectively takes choice away from individuals, and distorts the market.
In most cases this leads to a sub-optimal allocation of resources.

Yes, which is why private firms build the roads, the govt just pays them to.

The nice thing about tolls is that it automatically takes account of this,
if the people making their local journeys consider their journey
"unimportant" they will be unwilling to pay £2-3. If they long
distance traffic considers its journey important then they will pay
for it. Everyone considers their journey to be "important" or even
"essential". But the proof of the pudding is whether they are
prepared to pay for it.

And what if they can't afford it? A poor man's important journey to a job
interview may have to stay on the M6 because he can't afford to pay the
toll, whereas a rich man's trip to play golf can use the Toll because he's
got bags of spare cash.