Don't we already pay as we drive in tax on petrol? Why not just up the tax on petrol heavily. It would be a lot cheaper/easier/quicker than installing GPS devices in every REGISTERED car in Britain. How do they plan on doing this? Sure if it becomes so expensive to drive I might start cycling to work, but I want a perspex tunnel to cycle under to keep me dry all the way to work.
i dont know about cycling, bought myself a bike a couple of years back, didnt realize how unfit i had become after driving everywhere for 3 years, :(@
It would help reduce the rush hour congestion - if a HGV for example had to pay £10 a mile (or something similarly high) during rush hour then that`d remove the wagons. Making it more expensive to drive in rush hour than at say 6AM or noon would help move some of the traffic away from the rush hour period. I`m sure if it came in that a lot more companies would start running a flexi-time scheme (maybe even legislate to make it more favourable to run one) so that staff can avoid the rush hour, save money and reduce the congestion.
I think it all depends on the details of the plan whether i`ll be for or against it.
If they are not covered then register all delivery vans in France bring them over on the tunnel early Monday morning. Use them all week without paying the mileage charge and take them back on Friday
I think that this idea was used by Stobart in the past to avoid higher road tax for his lorries
Tony
How about stopping immigration as a beginning. It's bloody madness to charge for congestion when increasing the population.
Also why is the only way of regulating anything, always charging more. How about rationing ? Oh no, the rich might be affected and not just the low paid.
After 2 centuries of improving the standard of living for all, this is a major backwards step IMO, not to mention the privacy issue. Every aspect of your life will be open to scrutiny by all and sundry.
What we desperately need is less people if we are all to continue enjoying the benefits of a modern lifestyle.
Andy
One important aspect of this would be to make it free, for more than one person in the car. (you press a button on the thingy, and if a camera snaps only one person in the car, you get a fine)
Eh? So we`ve got an aging population that won`t be able to afford to support itself in old age unless we get fresh young blood in, but we should stop people coming in? How about the people doing all the grotty jobs like cleaning that UK nationals don`t want to do - how will we have people to do those jobs? I love seeing people who want to "send the buggers back" but don`t realise just how much the economy needs a lot of these people coming in.
How would you ration it? Got a cunning plan on how to ration driving?
That sounds like a very paranoid statement, only a few short steps away from wearing a foil hat!
Or efficient green energy, which would do pretty much the same job.
So we allow more people in to alleviate the problem of an ageing population and get a short term fix. Long term the solution causes more problems as the immigrants and their offspring mean the population increases again and we have even more ageing people who can't afford to support themselves in old age. What then? Do we just keep upping the population, thus making the problem worse and worse?
Morse
So you believe population is limitless ? When the Third World want anything like the quality of life we have the world is doomed anyway. And that takes no account of improvements in health care and increasing longevity.
Yes 10,000 a year for personal use. Any excess can be sold on.
We used to look upon the Soviey Union with distain because there was an KGB agent on every corner. We have moved light-years beyond that now.
It not just energy though is it. I've heard it predicted the next World War will be over water. The earth is a finite resource and a world population enjoying a western standard of living has already been well exceeded IMO.
Added to which, I don't want to get back onto the bus, which takes five times at least as long, to do aynthing. Andy
So you won't mind the government knowing exactly everywhere you've driven to within a few metres and exactly what speed you were doing.
Thus expect to be prosecuted for doing 1mph over the speed limit anywhere, stopping however briefly on double yellows, etc, etc. Also expect to be a suspect just for happening to drive past a crimescene.
Also this info could be passed to your insurance company, so expect your premium to be based on where you drive as well as how. Fast acceleration/braking, etc could all be monitored.
Once this gate is opened, it won't be closed again. Its true 1984 stuff.
Z
What's wrong with a good old-fashioned work permit?. if people want to come and work here in the UK then there shouldn't be a problem (this system appears to work well for thousands of British nationals working abroad) a major advantage being that they won't be able to bring a whole extended family with them who expect to reside here on a permanent basis, and who will themselves create even more demands on our already overburdened infrastructure.
Presumably the idea is to penalise those who have an alternative, not those who don't. So the disabled or those who live on Orkney wouldn't be as heavily taxed because they don't have other options to get from A-B, whereas those able-bodied people living in Central London do and so pay the congestion charge. If there was a flat tax on fuel then there wouldn't be a sensible way to give rebates to people who had no alternative.
Theo
Perhaps you should research what the EU is supposed to be about...
Chris
And you don't think that they and their families do anything but work ?
More people = more traffic.
Andy
Cheap skate employers would have to pay them economic wages and not be able to undermine indigenous workers who have rising costs.
Andy
I wasn't thinking particularly of the EU, however now you come to mention it, it is becoming ridiculously oversized, so it's probably about time we withdrew, along with this human-rights and asylum nonsense, which let's face it we signed up to shortly after WW2 before the advent of mass global air travel, and which AIUI it was only ever originally intended to mop up a few tens of thousands of displaced 'European' refugees after the war.
The other major factor which make the EU totally inappropriate for the UK is the language. A third of the world has a heritage of UK administration and thus a familiarity with the language. English is presently the dominant second language of choice throughout the world, the language of business and travel and thus this slews interest in the UK disproportionately and to control our immigration requirements under the same mandate as say, Slovenia is insane. This is not to de-ride any particular country but just to point out that conditions are vastly different.
Andy
The BIG question is, when going from A38 north bound to A5132 east will it be cheaper for me turn off the A38 and go though Egginton or stay on the A38 and turn off at the main junction?
Another part of my route has the choice between a B road with humps past an infants school with gates direct on to narrow pavement or an A road past a junior school with 20 ft verge between pavement and road. Road pricing could easily make the B road a cheaper option.
Unlike a colleagues Z4 with a broken spring my nice soft suspension can take any number of road humps.
Bus is 1 1/2 hour and only goes on the hour. Bike would take 1 hour when I got fit, the cycle track along the A38 is covered in vehicle spares so punctures would be common. Car is 20 min and goes just when I want, don't have to wait in the rain (no bus shelter), it's impossible to be late and miss it.
The changes road pricing could make to peoples driving patterns would result in all none trunk roads having to be made "residents access only".
-- Peter Hill Spamtrap reply domain as per NNTP-Posting-Host in header Can of worms - what every fisherman wants. Can of worms - what every PC owner gets!
Andy Cap (Andy snipped-for-privacy@nosuch.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :
Go on, then... How's that a different issue for us compared to, say, Ireland?
I have absolutely no problem with anybody from anywhere in the world who wants to come here - or go anywhere - and work to better themselves. I have a far bigger problem with people who were born here and do sod all, expecting their meal ticket to be covered.
Incidentally, Andy - do you think that all the Brits who've moved to France/Spain/Italy ought not to have been able to do so?
Ireland possibly started from a lower density - I don't know. The point is that each situation is different and should be judged on it's merits and not on a global basis applied to 25 countries.
If they have the qualifications and a job to go to, then yes. Incidentally, they generally have lower population densities than ourselves.
Also note that France would never print information in the 25 or so languages that we choose to do but would insist you converse and communicate in French if you wish to settle.
Our willing hospitality is taken advantage of because we are simply stupid.
Andy
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