Your Comments

Give the man at Comment 31 a gold medal!

He has the solution spot on.

In addition to targetting the tax at the correct users this solution would go someway to ensuring that vehicle emmisions were within the legal range, (MOT Disc), and would help to reduce the number of cars being driven without insurance, (Insurance Disc), which would benefit us all by lowering insurance premiums.

Read all the other comments from the Tree Huggers, etc, but also read comment 31 because this is a very simple and cost effective solution.
THAT WILL WORK!!!


What chance of it being implemented????

This is a typical move by a bunch of town dwelling politicians who have no idea about country living.Here we have about four buses a day, none on weekends. They do not run to enable people to reach work at a reasonable time. To go to the main hospital fifteen miles away requires two changes of bus, and about two hours thirty minutes travel. Not very benificial for the old and infirm. Cars are a Necessity out here. on yur bike tony, downig street aint more than a mile from parliment next time you go abroad take the Gatwick Express if you dare!

I have voted against the tax. I live 12 miles from the nearest town, there is no public transport available in my village at all, so in order to work I have to drive. If there was a raised tax, I wouldn't be able to afford to drive to work, so I would be living off the government on benefits.

If I lived in a town or City and still used my car to drive everywhere, then I would expect to pay more - since I would have the choice of using public transport. In my current home, I have no choice in using it since there isn't any - stop penalising rural drivers!!!!

In response to Mr David L, (16th February 2007 4:27pm) and many others that share his view:

If the public transport was a viable source of transportation then people would use it. It is a well known fact that public transport is of a ridiculously poor strandard, over priced, riddled with delays & cancellations, rarely on time, over crowded, un-hygienic and the second bigget downfall of this country after the NHS.

I drive a car to work as a result of public transport would take me one hour to complete a 15minute car journey.

Public transport has been promised to be funded, and it hasn't. Now they wish to tax the motorist further to pay for it, but we all know the money will be squandered elsewhere. Why should independant motorists be taxed to the hilt? Why should ALL taxes not be increased a tiny amount in order to compensate for the governmwents poor budgeting and over-spending??

If you want a solution to the problems we face with the Road systems Mr David L, petition for more Toll Motorways like th M6 Toll, which is the single most genius invention for the road systems of modern day.

In order to reduce polution, I think the government should ban the use of things such as speed humps. These worthless measures damage cars and result in additional pollution in terms of exhaust gasses and the carbon cost of vehicle repairs and parts manfacture / shipping etc.

Tax for road uasage should be levied entirely on fuel, the more you use, the more you pay. I drive approximaitely 40,000 miles per annum and am in favour of this approach.

To ease congestion, stop all those lorries overtaking for the sake of that extra mile per hour - you will only fall behind at the next slight incline. Stop allowing the Chelsea tractor brigade to run the kids to school. This will make a significant difference to all roads, not just urban ones.

Public transport is hopeless. I have to travel to anywhere in the UK at any time. Public transport is totally useless for this purpose. Introduce a service that is reliable, safe and runs when it is needed (24/7), goes to the places people need to go and people will use it. Until then, any attempt to squeeze the motorist out of their car will just end up squeezing working Britains wallet.

I live in a rural area and have to travel 25 miles each way to work and it will inevitably be more expensive if I have to pay more just for the privilege of going to work. The nearest bus in 3 miles away and does not take me to my desired destination anyway without a change of vehicle. I estimate it would take me 3 hours to get to work in each direction, instaead of the 35-40 minutes it does now by car. The nature of my work means that I do not always work 9-5 and there are no buses before about 7.00 a.m. and after 8.00 p.m. so I would not be able to get to and from work before or after those times.
We are now living in a mobile society and there is an expectation that people should be able to travel around the country without let or hindrance. My elderly dad lives 250 miles away and it will be practically impossible to visit him if I had to pay an additional cost per mile or use public transport.
I believe that road pricing will be a serious impediment to the economy of this country and prices of goods (and hence inflation) will inevitably rise. Certain parts of the UK are dependent on tourism and road pricing will deter visitors from visiting some of the more remote areas which have no other means of economic support.

Hmm, use public transport....yes I do where possible. But let's see now....Sunday, collect 5 young rugby players from various locations to take them to a match in the middle of the countryside, take load of rubbish down the tip to save council charging me £38 to do that. Monday, travel 2 miles to son's school loaded down with three kit bags and there's no bus or other transport between those points. Then go out on site for work into middle of nowhere with all the equipment we need to carry. Come back, collect son again, equally heavily laden. Take 90 lbs of not-very-well dog to vets, 1.5 miles away. Go to charity meeting at night in the dark down a council estate notorious for recent attacks on women alone on foot. PS I have arthritis and cannot carry loads for more than a very short distance or balance on a moving bus without falling. I had no idea that my travel by car for any of these matters was "optional" or "a luxury". Perhaps we should give up running a company or sending our kid to schools unless they're on a bus route....or having dogs or recycling stuff or doing charity work? (Grr)

right i would just like to point out that blair wants all us mothers to go to work. so i walk my son to school then walk back home only takes 10 mins then get in my car to drive to work 8 miles away. i get there 9.40am (already later than anyone else). bus: the first bus i need is one of the little minibus efforts, doesn't even start til 9am then connecting with the next bus is a nightmare and i would get to work about 10.15. right i am contracted to work 5 and a half hours a day, so how am i supposed to pick my son up from school at 3.15? BLAIR - you choose the times the schools open and close and YOU want all mothers to go to work so YOU are the one putting us all on the road at 9am and now you want to tax us for being on the road at the busiest time. what you gonna do stagger the school hours ? not possible. You try squeezing work into school hours without a car see how you get on.

I live in a rural area and travel 56 miles round trip to work. I earn 12,000/year and can just about afford to work where I do. Believe me if I could get a job nearer home and cycle to work I would. Businesses in the locality are closing every week. In the past year hundreds have lost jobs locally, travelling to the nearest city is really the only option. Although there is public transport to the area where I work, the times of day and the travelling time it would take to get there means that it's not really a viable option.

I support in priciple the idea that the more one uses a car the more one should pay but when one is limited to where one can work and, in my case, the type of work one can do then unless earnings are taken into account I have to give it a thumbs-down.

Why do we all believe the government and scientists that this is global warming due to the gases in our environment ???? hmm.... how can they prove this wacky idea ??? perhaps our world is getting closer to the sun... or something like that... we are here to have a life and when its over one way or another that's that... but as long as the government can cash in on this idea they're laughing... if we went on the moon on the sixties why aren't we there every weekend with all this technology??? too many gases ha ha. Anyway I don't smoke or drink and my only pleasure is taking my 3 kids out to the beach, swimming, parks, etc as buses are scarce at the weekend & expensive I own a car for now but I fear only the rich will be able to afford the new taxes !!

Before road pricing, why not crush all the untaxed and uninsured vehicles on our roads.

The comment by David Hutchings 28 Feb begs the question, cannot it be found out from this "open Government" policy?

Colin Outram.

You say take 25% of heavies offthe road and it would solve the problem. On the roads in this country we have 480,000 trucks and 26MILLION cars, now tell me where the congestion comes from

David L comments are typical of the stupifying ignorance shown by the anyi car brigade. Do you really think I cant be "bothered" to get out of my car and on to public transport? Do you really think that I want to be stuck in a traffic jam? I do not get on public transport because it is dirty, overpriced and slow.
Where has all the money from the high tax we pay on petrol gone? Don't blame drivers, blame sucessive governments for wasting all the tax and charges car drivers pay and NOT spoending them on public transport.

For too long Car drivers have been vilified and seen as a cash cow. Time we all stood up and said no. Give us a viable alternative and we WILL use it.

This comment has been removed as it was found to be in breach of our Blog Policies.

I have just been on a tour of France and Spain and we were only paying less than a euro per litre for Diese, so it was only costing us about £35.00 on our first day back into the U.K. WE PAID £65.00 SO WE JUST SENT THE EXTRA £30.00 STRAIGHT TOTHE GOVENMENT

679: that will be most of the polish ones then.

If poeple who are slef employed and other workers need car for work , a person on £7 per hour thats 5 hours a week just to go work , my question , what happens when we all go to the dole office . tony blair , impress , not depress.

if we all used public transport then we will be sitting ducks for terrorist.

Any change to road taxing assumes that the road users can change. Where a person has chosen to live in relationship to his/her work was made under the prevailing conditions at the time. To change these for congestion or environmental reasons assumes that some degree of flexibility is available. Even if public transport is available at a reasonable cost the reduced time convenience may now no longer meet the work requirements as developed underthe present conditions. Where will all the money raised go? will the money be ring-fenced?

Do none of you realise that we live in a democracy?

Let me explain exactly what this means. Every five years, or so you have the right to cast one vote for the politician of your choice. Once he has been democratically elected, he takes responsibility and makes decisions on your behalf. If you do not like those decisions, you have the right to vote agianst him FIVE YEARS LATER. Our Leader, Tony Blair has, quite rightly, ignored the voices of the proletariat, who would seek to ignore the democratic process.

If you do not like democracy, perhaps it is time to vote for another type of rule. Aristocracy (rule by the best), would probably result in fewer decision makers and less micro-management. Have none of yo noticed how many new rules the Labour Elite are creating to keep the proletariat in their places.

Taxes are necessary, to keep the proetariat in its place. It is necessary to increase all types of car-related taxes. These taxes ar ean excellent means of targeting the proletariat, who must be kept in their place. The elite are not affected by fuel taxes and are thus able to make donations to our Great Leader.

If you travel up and down the motorway networks in this country it's blindingly obvious that the two inside lanes are dominated if not completely overcrowded by heavy goods vehicles. I think lorries should be taken off the road networks and put back on the railway where they belong. This would not only dramatically reduce traffic congestion problems but save a fortune in expensive road repairs and significantly improve road safety. This GREEN option would also significantly reduce all those harmful carbon emissions we keep hearing about and solve the global warming issue at the same time. This would be a win win situation for the government as they can dramatically reduce carbon emissions, save a fortune on road repairs, save a fortune on hospital bills due to reduced road accidents.. Perhaps with all these savings we could fund another illegal war somewhere where we don't belong!

re, 'getting the public out of cars onto public transport', I suspect the writer hasn't used public transport lately, much less in a very rural area such as where I live. Public transport is a joke and the vehicle condition of those running is simply appaling.
I would support a change from a purely selfish point of view, 1.If fuel is cheaper it would suit me as I don't do the mileage. And 2. I wouldn't be forced by the tree huggers to use antiquated and irregular public transport.
The proposed scheme I objected to as it smacked far to much of an Orwellian stance of big brother knowing exactly what I do, when, and at what time.
Before someone says 'if you have nothing to hide routine', consider the system would be computer driven and begs the old saying, 'to err is human, to really muck it up takes a computer', and politicians come to that!

Lower congestion in cities and towns? Get rid of the 'traffic calming measures' which slow down traffic, and the bus lanes that effectively halve the usable road space for the benefit of a few vehicles an hour. Major road junctions in my neck of the woods have been 'improved' by the local highways department, i.e. replacing roundabouts with traffic lights. Result? Queues all day, even when there weren't any in off-peak periods beforehand. Oh, and the queues in peak periods are now twice as bad. Yes, replacing roundabouts with traffic lights was a wonderful solution to easing traffic congestion - NOT!

Judging from my experience, it seems like congestion has almost been manufactured in recent years to justify the introduction of yet another tax on the motorist.

My long distance travelling often occurs before 6am and after 7pm. Will I still be charged even a small amount under these new proposals, despite my nocturnal journeys not contributing to congestion? You bet I will. There will be a minimum amount per mile levied, even if I don't add to any queue whatsoever.

I feel for people who need their vehicles due to disabilities, or who live in remote areas. They're going to suffer more than those who live in towns and cities and may at least have some kind of alternative. In any case, most goods are delivered by, and most services are provided by, road. That means the cost of living will go up yet again, and any jobs you require doing at home, your tradesmen and women will charge you more for doing, to make up for their increased transport costs. The people who dream these things up, however, will *still* have their vehicles provided for and paid by us, the poor taxpayers - and congestion will still be just as bad.

There are lots of issues with regards to the charges which the government are insisting they will put into place.

I have a job which pays decent money but if charges are put into place I will not be able to continue in this profession. As I am a teacher I cannot get away from the peak time travel as I have legal responsibility to be present at a set time.

UNSOCIABLE BEHAVIOUR. Attempts have been made to tackle this issue which have mainly focused on parental responsibility and the lack of activities being run for youths. I forsee that parents will be reluctant to take their children to clubs, play sports, museums etc due to the extra expense of travel. In the current climate I can totally understand that parents wish to pick their children up from school. Their is a lack of trust/confidence with the public transport system and within society as a whole.

OBESITY: I travel a high number of miles to compete in sporting events. Will people be willing to spend money on competing, volunteer to coach kids if they have added costs on top of normal day - day running costs.

TAX on everything. Council tax increases, tax on earnings, tax on savings. Why am I still in this country? Why didn't I get my secondaryt, university education in the UK and then go and teach in another country? This is going to be something which a lot of people will be contemplating!

I think all this "If you travel in a car to work you should pay more money" is a load of rubbish. I used to travel to and from work by train and it used to cost me a fortune to put up with endless delays, crampt conditions and constant problems with "leaves", "heat" or "ice" on the tracks. I then moved jobs to outside of London and public transport became impossible to use as I would have to commute into London to come back out again travelling through zones 1-6 (plus an add on charge). I actually save money at the moment by travelling to work by car but does this mean I should have to pay more money?! I really wouldn't mind travelling to work on public transport if it was reliable and there was adequite links which at the moment there isn't. I feel Blair should concentrate on those that are ABLE to use transport not those who travel by car because they have too. If you live 30 miles from work why should you have to pay for that?? If you work up the road and there is a bus that drops you there then I totally understand Blairs point but I really think he is targeting the wrong people by taxing by mileage. One more thing - there is such a worry at the moment with children getting obese - Suggestion - WALK to school don't get mum/dad to drive you a mile up the road.

I drive a Chevrolet petrol engined 5.7 litre V8 4x4 and a Jaguar 4 litre V8 Soveriegn and why not? We've worked hard all my lives and nobody has ever given us anything, in our retirement why should we not have what we can. My wifes electric wheelchair fits very nicely in the Truck, before all the green purests start protesting, both vehicles run on LPG so we probably put a lot less pollution in the air then you. The question of taxing us per mile will never happen, we the public will never give up our cars, there would be civil demonstrations the like of which would make the "Poll Tax riots" look like a picnic, the cost of every single retail item would almost double as would the cost of living. But if there is to be protest and demos, count us in, at almost 70 years of age, rebelled in the 60's with rock & roll what have we got to loose?

Try living in the countryside. Roads are long, winding, and indirect. There ARE NO REGULAR FORMS OF MASS TRANSPORTATION. Try and get to work via bus when its a several mile walk to a bus stop and then it doesnt come until half 10. Suddenly the fact that all the roads in the citys are crowded - yes you lot can use public transport if you like - becomes the problem of someone else. Fairplay, taxing ppl in London to drive through the centre has worked. I agree. Good idea. Just because it works there doesnt mean it will work everywhere. Also how exactly do we know where this extra tax goes? Dont forget - we already pay tax - why isnt that banded more appropriately and perhaps raised? I agree that if you own 3 cars you can probably afford to pay more tax. I just dont think that a system that currently isnt technologically viable is even practicable. Bear in mind if you will that all this assumes that Europe ever gets the galilleo gps satellite cluster to work. Um - something weve paied for with our tax...

Firstly, let's divorce the city and town congestion charging from road usage.
On the road usage charging 'issue', I agree with post 31.
Scrap vehicle excise duty and, in it's place, put a road usage 'TAX' collectable at source (i.e. the pump). Then everybody will pay for their usage of roads, including to 2-3 million 'untaxed' vehicles, foreign visitors et al. Gone is the 'fear' of road tracking and the associated huge expense of developing and implementing a system to monitor, bill, collect revenue and chase/summons miscreants.
The only drawback is we'd have to trust the Government to use this tax wisely in the development of proper transport system (buses, trains, roads). It's a non-starter, then!

Congestion Charging is a different ballgame. Congestion arises for many reasons and not all are because of too many cars on the road (well, buses, taxis, vans and Government/Council limousines NEVER cause congestion, do they! Dig a small hole in the road (or better still, block off a chunk of road in order to dig a hole some time in the future); re-phase traffic lights; install traffic lights at roundabouts; install under-used bus and cycle lanes; hail a taxi. All contribute to congestion, as do many other things. Government and council traffic planners are imbued with the notion that traffic must be slowed not flowed, thus enabling the 'authority' to impose hefty charges on the motorist, allegedly to provide more and better public transport. And heaven help you if you have a 'gas-guzzler', an as yet undefined vehicle, the size of which must be truly enormous to warrant the three fold increase in the CONGESTION Charge that is being mooted! Or is it that the MoL just doesn't like people to have what he hasn't! So, where has all the money collected in London from congestion Charging actually gone! Perhaps someone from the Mayor's office would like to put up a table of income and expenditure for us to chew over. Lot's on new buses and services, perhaps!

I'm intrigued to find out

this just another tax on motorists. when will successive goverments start useing tax already taken from road users to fund decent transport for all road schemes

It is a fact that there are thousands of motor vehicles that are uninsured & untaxed openly driving on the road.
The government should make it a priority to ensure that every vehicle complies. Any non compliant person caught without an insurance & untaxed would automatically be banned from driving for a minimum of 3 years first time & second time a much longer time. [Even a life time ban.]
Follow the French example of Vehicle Insurance - the certificate is openly displayed on the windsceen on every vehicle.
By reducing the number of Drivers legally able to drive - congestion would automatically be reduced.
The government GPS system has not been thought thru' properly. Do the Labour politicians not realise that the US switch off the System at certain times.
Placing a metal hood over the GPS Aerial would make tracking impossible - such an easy cheat that defeats tracking instantly.
Driving in built up areas with surrounding high buildings makes the GPS sytem unreliable at best & usually it will fail to work as it cannot "see" the satillites.
What about all the unlicensed & untaxed vehicles - how are these ever going to be made to install the tracking System, when the Goverment cannot get them to comply with Insurance & Licensing at the moment.
All this does is penalise the law abiding public but does nothing about the bad guys.

I agree with Kath - my husband is self employed and had to buy a large van to hold all his tools for unblocking drains including a jetter and pipes, rods etc. we just about manage on his income while I'm at home looking after the children (by the way I do not drive). My husband works all over the place from south east london to Dover, Brighton wherever the work is, should he be penalised for hard work and looking after his family !!!!! I live in area with no main line station, even though SE9 is only a 7 min drive away with a station and their is no direct bus service to get to this station, infact you have to get two buses which can take over an hour, for a trip that by car only takes 7 mins. (I timed it by the way) as for public transport, I have been told on several occasions that I cannot get on the bus with a buggy, because there is no room. So what do I do I call a local cab company thats what !!! who only charge me £3 which I am happy to pay for the 7 min journey instead of £3 on two buses, which takes over an hour, with two children in the pouring rain........... Oh and by the way, We are always being told (why go abroad for your holiday ....... take your holiday in Britain) Which we do every year travelling to Norfolk, taking the kids to different area's to visit many interesting places (that DO NOT have Train stations) Will my husband be penalised again for doing so................

Charging per mile will not help the environment, people will still have to drive whilst ever public transport is so expensive, inconvenient and very often unavailable. We have to travel in order to earn a living, go on holiday, shop and visit friends and family. Mileage pricing is only likely to deter those who drive only for pleasure - and what pleasure is there in driving in solid traffic anyhow? So the only effect of introducing this system will be to make motoring much more expensive, possibly forcing many people into having to resign their occupations and therefore increasing unemployment levels.
The government should focus their atention on two important areas,
a) reducing the number of goods vehicles which fill up the roads and
b) encouraging as many people as possible to work at home by subsidising the use of the latest communications technologies.

Will some bright spark please explain to me how, as a working professional musician, I am supposed to carry a set of PA equipment, a guitar, a banjo and an amplifier on public transport from my home in Stockport to a job in Norfolk.

For God's sake will the green tree huggers get real and join the real world. Incidentally, the minister that Blair put up to answer questions didn't even grace me with a response to my question.

I think that parking restrictions and cordons. boundary charging are a much better idea as congestion is not a countrywide problem but focussed on congested urban areas. This kind of approach would help with raising revenue to overhaul the current road nectwork to make travel less problematic as well as feeding back into public transport.

Commuter traffic causes the majority of congestion and so local authorities should start to use the powers given them in 2002 to implicate a road user charge to limit the problem in urban areas. Local planning legislation could also insist on efficient corporate travel- plans which are the best way of reducing congestion so far, be in only at an organisational level. The introduction of a workplace parking levy is a much better and more approrpirate way or reducuing commuter traffic as well as raising revenue for better public transport.

Economists are over keen to have a new "tax" but in reality this is not going to limit road use and is simply going against the 9 points Smeed suggested necessary for effective road user charging.

To conclude I believe that this is a ridiculus idea beign explored for two reasons: a) that the government have little or no faith in the capabilities of Local Authorities to control congestion themselves (although this is currently what theya re empowered to do with Road use charging and workplace parking levies) and b) an encroachment on freedom of travel, sure the new tax cannot justify the cost of the technology required to achieve a social and environmental good use of the scarce road resource.

For a government trying to reduce nationwide congestion it seems that rasing revenue for aforsaid government is really the main driver, and so haw can that be in the best interest of any member of the travelling public.

A car though for some it may be a luxury, it an absolute necissity these days, and it is inperative that people have the choice whether or not to drive. Nobody should have the say whether or not people can be independant or not. I live in Scotland and like England we should not have to pay for this new car travel tax either. If it is good enough for England not to have this tax then it's good enough for the people that drive and work in Scotland.

Is a car a luxury item? ask somebody who is disabled and has to rely on one!
For all those who can afford several vehicles you would welcome the new tax because you will save the disc price on each! and concequently its the poorer who get poorer.
A car has become a neccessary item since buses have been ordered off the roads in Manchester and the companies forced to shutdown.
The train routes have been ripped up and turned into Bridleways, who goes to work or shopping on a Horse?
Are Councils still being given road fund licence money to maintain unmetalled roads that we are no longer able to use since the 'NERC Bill' came into force?

If the government would only concentrate on encouraging better public transport all round and building new railways instead of motorways and making the Public more attracted to using it then matters may get better