OllyK

They are replying in batches, it will probably come in the next few days - No. 10 only has a 28K dial up you know, it takes a while to send 1.8 Million emails!!

r32

One issue with road pricing is that it will cause workers to ask for increased pay, it will add billions to the cost of doing business in the UK. This in turn will drive investment abroad and make UK based business uncompetitive.

Plus all the other sh!te that come with it.

Flatcapdriver

Oh, come off it. You're proving my point here by being so pedantic about the issue which is the general response of the motoring public in the UK who like to have a good moan, point fingers at the Government and then completely fail to help reduce to the problem.

If you want to drive your car for fun, then there's nothing wrong with that but don't complain about congestion and possible ways of curbing it if you aren't prepared to make some sacrifices. Obviously, you can't cycle 160 miles a day - at least not practically but you could reduce the number of journeys you make with better planning. Example - take your neighbours kids to school with your own or cycle to the corner shop once per week instead of taking the car.

Kieran_Burns

iTrader: (1)

An interesting twist to all this has been highlighted by my best mate who is active within the Campaign for an English Parliament (he drafted this press release)

Campaign for an English Parliament

NEWS RELEASE

20 February 2007

For immediate release

ENGLAND RAILROADED INTO NEW ROAD TAX

“ It could become this Government’s ‘Poll Tax’ ”

At the time of writing, the Downing Street petition site has over 1.6 million signatures on a petition objecting to the imposition of a tax on English people using English roads.

Transport is a devolved responsibility, and the devolved Scottish and Welsh administrations have already indicated they have no intention of introducing such a tax for Scottish and Welsh people.

The ‘pay-as-you-go’ road pricing plan will only apply to England. Once again, just as with Student Fees, the English are being singled out for unfair treatment. CEP Chairman Scilla Cullen said, “Transport Secretary Douglas Alexander is prepared to railroad English motorists into paying this unfair and unwanted charge that will not apply to his own constituents in Scotland- even if they use English roads”.

In New Labour's version of Britain, some Britons are more equal than others.

England gave away £12 billion in subsidies to the rest of the UK last year. Indeed, the Scottish Parliament can afford to “scrap car tax and cut fuel duty to sweeten the pill of a new road toll scheme”[1] in Scotland. CEP Spokesman Mike Knowles said, “Road pricing taxation and state surveillance in England should be a matter for an English Parliament- just as they are matters in Scotland for the Scottish Parliament. Until England has its own separately elected parliament, the United Kingdom remains dangerously unbalanced and undemocratic".

CEP Vice Chairman Tom Waterhouse added, “who is to say that, instead of using the extra money for green purposes, it won’t just be given out as further subsidies to Scotland and Wales? People in England are sick of this unfairness. You wonder if this road-pricing plan might be the ‘last straw’- it could become this Government’s ‘Poll Tax’ ”.

Campaign for an English Parliament
National Council


The bottom line is only the English will get the new tax... and we'll be subsidising the Scottish so they don't need to. Wonderful.

Dream Weaver

You're aiming this at the wrong person.

I don't moan about congestion cos it doesn't affect me only using the car at weekends. The local school is 1/4 of a mile away, and the shops we always walk to as well.

In fact our family car is only used for the mrs to get to work, and when we travel out at the weekends, though I doubt the mrs could cycle to work being 8 months pregnant

I'm surprised that someone like yourself that does 30k miles a year is supporting a new motoring tax on top of fuel duty and VED. Whereas I dont support it at all but have the most to gain from it, i.e. it won't really affect me in the slightest having to pay per miles.

I did say I would support a fuel duty increase instead of GPS tracking though. I need 100 gallons a year, so even at £10 a gallon it wouldn't cost me the earth compared to some.

IMO the best way to reduce congestion is to streamline the road systems, and educate drivers to use their vehicles more effctively - hell, if we just got rid of the middle lane hoggers the motorways would be much freer flowing.

Flatcapdriver

Seriously mate, you are being pedantic. There are opportunities for you to reduce your travelling but you're demonstrating the classic symptoms of the electorate by refusing to help rectify the problem - I'm not having a go at you but surely you can see that your wife is not pregnant all year round so will have the opportunity to cycle occasionally, thereby making a contribution.

Even though you only use your car at weekends are you seriously suggesting that you've never been in a traffic jam? Somehow, I doubt it.

Lastly, I'm not advocating the use of toll charges as I'm totally against it. All I'm saying is that everyone from the Government (coherent transport policy with better funding) through to employers (showering facilities/home networking opportunities) and on to the electorate (fewer journeys/car sharing etc) all need to 'club together' to provide a solution. Its no good pointing the finger solely at the Government because although they've made a pig's ear of the transport system, the country as a whole needs to sort this out.

Otherwise, we'll simply be playing into the Government's hands and toll charging will become a fact of life.

Dream Weaver

Every post you make is pedantic, not sure how you can level that accusation at me?

If I reduced my mileage any more I'd not need a car, only doing max 2k miles a year. Our 2 cars do less miles in 3 years than you do in 1 year FFS!!

I can't get in a traffic jam in my 205 as it would overheat too much, so to answer your question, no i've never been in a jam in that car in 4 years I live in deep Northern countryside, so we still have decent empty roads up here.

Not sure how my mrs could cycle 10 miles to work (as a teacher) with 30 class books and a laptop every day, not to mention teaching materials. And in fact, why should she have to? Can you not cycle to your customers premises?

We are one of the greenest families about, and use our cars very little so I like to think we do our bit.

If you think road pricing is a good thing, then we can leave it at that, I personally think its a crap idea, and I have the feeling you just argue in these threads for pure trolling, whether you agree with the idea or not.

As for rectifying the problem, what problem? The roads can be busy at work times, but in general I don't find them to be an issue where I live. I don't mind road pricing in theory as it would benefit me – why o I have to pay the same road tax as you when I do 10 times less mileage? But there are better ways to do it than force everyone to have a black box fitted using GPS. Sliding scale VED and fuel duty is one method.

Flatcapdriver

Can you not read? For the last time I do not think road pricing is a good idea. Clear enough?

I did not say your wife should cycle to work every day - I said, occasionally. Clear enough?

No. I cannot cycle to my customer's premises because they are too far away just as we agreed your old 160 mile commute was too far. Clear enough?

You ask, what problem? There is a clear problem with congestion in the UK, although you state you don't go near traffic jams because your car overheats. Clear enough?

ALL I have ever said, is that each of us could help reduce congestion by making some effort, large or small, to decrease our car usage. The rest is up to employers and Government.

I think the reason that you think I'm trolling is that you don't read other posts properly and therefore jump to conclusions.

Andy916

iTrader: (8)

Stephen Ladyman's webchat this afternoon has already got more than 5000 questions submitted. Add yours here:

Transport Minister webchat on Thursday

And copy it to the prime minister too for good measure, as they've no chance of addressing all those questions this afternoon:

Email Tony Blair

As they've emailed the 1.8m who signed the petition, we should keep them busy with replies.

Andy