659,000 Sign Against Road Charges In The UK

As if the UK wasn’t already an expensive country to own and run a car, from fuel tax, road tax to insurance, there are growing hints that Gordon Brown will introduce further road charges, supposedly to fund better transport. A petition of 659,000 signatures has been presented to the government to show the publics’ disgust at the proposals. The government have said it is the only way they could fund the improvements needed.

According to the AA a massive £42 billion pounds is already being raised every year from, road tax, company car taxes and fuel tax, but only one quarter of this money is put back into the road system. They go on to say that, if there was trust that the money would be used for improvements it may tolerated better.The road toll system would use satellite technology to calculate the fees but there is even doubt of the reliability of these systems too. Even so, it looks like, some trial schemes will be happening in the not too future.

Comments on the Daily Mail newspaper website are obviously not written to favour the proposal and it certainly won’t give the already unpopular labour government any brownie points for the next election, especially from a government that is accused of hiding tax collection through indirect means.The department of transport has warned that without road charges, congestion on the UK roads could increase by 25% over the next 10 years.

It is estimated that the scheme could cost up £60b to set up, which is almost one and a half times the current taxes collected, without taking into consideration the 75% of this that is used for other causes, so it is not sure if this a government calculation or one done for the press. If it is correct it would take several years just to recoup the setting up charges, meaning driving will become very expensive.

Of course it is popular to charge tolls in other countries, say in Florida and Spain, especially in tourist areas. But up to now it has been mainly bridges and tunnels that have charges a toll, with the exception of a section of the M6 opened a few years ago. But it is agued that money goes back into the road system and the initial cost of running a car in these countries is also cheaper.

It’s unlikely the British public will stomach another increase in driving charges and can remember only a few years ago, when many of the British petrol stations ended up empty as lorry drivers actioned blockades across the UK’s refineries and garages in a protest against high fuel charges. The AA (the largest UK breakdown cover organisation) are right in that if the public felt the money would be reinvested, they may take these charges a little better, bit with only 25% of the existing revenue being raised, being used to improve the road system, where is the faith?

The high costs of motoring is not a recent thing within the UK, since a lack of investment in the public transport system led to it being sold off into the private sector, many either have no choice to use their own transport or refuse to trust what is in place.

There already have been calls for Tony Blair to step down and an early election, this will do them no favours even from their own supporters.

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