Road Tolls

[Mikeyd2]

The report into traffic congestion is out today and what does it say ....We might have to pay to use the roads through tolls !!!


Don't we pay enough anyway with the Road Tax and tax on petrol ?

[Scylax]

It is a licence to print money by our beloved government.

Find an excuse, usually ecological/climate change, and
exsanguinate the public 'for it's own good'.

Well, all tigers flense their claws, don't they ?

[jake-the-peg]

Tell you what - why don't we slash the cost of petrol and road tax and see if congestion gets better or worse?

[LazyGun]

Not entirely happy about the idea either... but.... road conjestion is here to stay, and gets worse ye ar on year. It certainly does my head in, wasting precious hours of my life stuck in a jam on the Msomethingorother. I don't know of anyone who is happy with the current delays and jams, nevermind what they will be like in 5 or 10 years time.

What alternatives would you people suggest? At least road tolls offer the prospect of those who make the most use of the roads paying the most, which would seem fair, particularly if they abolish road tax as part of the deal. It might also make people think twice about using the car for trivial reasons.

[samuel23]

I would agree in principal with the road tolls if the tax on petrol got reduced and road tax was abolished. It would mean a fairer system for all. Those using the roads most would pay the most. My dad runs a courier company, and he agrees it would be better. At the moment he tries to reduce his contribution to carbon emmisions by running LPG vehicles and using bio-diesel, yet still has to pay road tax at the same level as the more polluting vehicles. He does benefit by cheaper LPG fuel, but the tax on bio fuel is creeping up and soon it will be the same price as normal diesel. Added to this is the extra paperwork involved running on bio diesel. It's not just a case of sticking cooking oil in the tank. You have to register with the Inland Revenue and jump through several bureaucratic hoops. An easier system would help more people convert.

[bazwillrun]

The Treasury loves to commission "independent" reports - whose conclusions it knows it will agree with - by businessmen with knighthoods.

If the report had said charges werent a good idea do you think it would have seen the light of day ?

[rockyracoon]

The are probably getting ready for the loss of revenue next year when people will start smoking less. They will need to recoup the loss somewhere and the good old motorist are always the ones that have to cough up.

[mimififi]

If it does manage to curb (haha) the unnecessary journeys then maybe I might be in favour. Less cars on the road would make them safer and quieter for those of us who do like to walk and cycle.

Sadly, however, I don't think it will make any difference at all as people from all income brackets always seem to find the cash for expensive petrol, expensive tax, MoT and insurance costs and then will probably also find the money for the tolls, so it is just another stealth tax.

Maybe they will use the extra money they are making to pay for an upgrade in the bus service/train service? I live in a small village a good 30 minutes walk from any town at least, and there is only 1 bus which goes anywhere near us, and that is only 3 times a day....what choice do we have? I could walk to school more easily too if I had pavements connecting our roads together also, but sadly only grass verges which is quite tricky to push a buggy on.

It is all one big joke; Maybe we will wak up one morning and find jeremy beadle unveiling all the public transport and nice pavements that have been hiding all these years?
I think not.

[Zen]

Someone should start a Pro Motorist political party,just think of the potential number of votes !!!!!!!!!!

[Kathyan]

It's this Government's usual reaction to any problem, either ban it or tax it!

[kwicky]

They are running a petition to stop these road tolls on the No 10 website. Vote if you disagree with them.

[kwicky]

Anyone who has driven in France can't help but notice how antequated our roads are. They have toll roads but they always provide an alternative route on excellent roads. There the system is very similar to our M6 around Birmingham where there is also a toll road. Why can't we have more of these!

[bazwillrun]

see my earlier post.

Phony Blairs government will never commission a report/study of which the outcome isnt what it wants it to be
ie: favourable to its point of view

this report was commissioned because the public are more likely to believe its "findings" than if the same rubbish came from a politician.

The brief would have been "how much can we charge/get away with ?, and how much will it make us".
The government will never do anything that does not make them more money than that which is currently in place.

this government is out to get total control over our lives in every way possible, its using terrorism as a weapon for its own means to an end ( one of the oldest tricks in the book) and taxing us to the hilt, so that we dont have time to worry about what they are doing, all we can think about is how to pay the next bill and feed ourselves.
They want you walking down that white line when they say, how fast they say , how often they say, and dont you dare remove those blinkers and think or do anything else !

They are criminalising more and more people every day in more ways and there is no end in sight.

[kwicky]

I would like to know how they would charge overseas visitors with foreign vehicles?

[kwicky]

Knowing how this government tackles administration aim a guess to work out the cost of billing, non-payers, fraud and errors. We already have an efficient means of tax collection and that is to add it to the price of fuel. This is the fairest based on vehicle consumption and miles travelled or is this means of collection too simple?

[bazwillrun]

kwicky

as you say yes, its too simple

this new method of collecting tax will also require a massive staffed dept or civil servants to administer.
or the other favoured method is to privatise it so that another bunch of suits can run it and pay themselves millions.
and as we have seen with that other scum bag ken livingstone once they see the money rolling in they will just keep increasing the tax.

[johnizere]

The best 'joke' I heard on this subject today, was some spokesman from the report saying that 'congestion would be cut by 50%'.....dream on, people won't give up their cars, and the phoney bliar party knows it. Who are these drivers who make 'uneccessary' journeys anyway?...I, for one, live a few miles out of town, public transport is non existent, taxis cost the earth, so how do we get around?.
Baz is right saying the government only listens to any report which comes up with the data they need....remember Hutton?
I can see the day when we all revert to village style existence, nobody but the rich will be able to travel, either for work or pleasure, and of course anybody involved with government.

[bazwillrun]

"the government only listens to any report which comes up with the data they need"

the people that are consulted are basically told what the results should show, the end product is already known by the government.
Can you imagine them paying millions as they do , and a report totally dissagrees with what they want ? yeah right , as if !

I love the way the report says we should be "charged to use the road network".
already using clever wording, we pay to use the roaods now

it should be "charged/taxed a shedload more" that would be nearer the truth, oh yeah, sorry, thats against government policy telling the truth

[andy-hughes]

The government is determined to tax motorists off the road, and ministers continually harp on about 'public transport'.

What they appear to fail to grasp is the 'cart before the horse' situation we live in. If, no, make that IF we had a clean, efficient, reliable comfortable and inexpensive PT system, people would use it. The government continually bang on about getting cars off the roads, and doing nothing to encourage people by upgrading our thrit-world PT systems, so it simply will not happen.

As I have said many times before, if you operate a privatised system like the rail network, you will always have management who look to mximise profit and minimise costs, because that way their get their bonuses paid - you will never have a transport system run for its users if it needs to satisfy shareholders.

But since MP's cease to endure the same transport systems as the rest of us - they obtain free, no make that FREE First Class rail travel between their constituancies and Westminster from Day One as MP's and ministers have chauffeur driven cars.

If you don't play the game, don;t make the rules.

[matt66]

Why is no one mentioning immigration to the UK. There is congestion because there are more cars. there are more cars because there are more people. We are adding about half a million to our population every 2-3 years. These people have to travel and they have cars. if you go to populous countries in the world, they have horrendous traffic/transport problems and the simple reason for that is the huge population. Our open doors policy has resulted in millions of people livin here. That is a lot of cars.