Tony B'LIAR's response to road charging

[Uruk Hai]

I think if this government brings in road charging (should be called "Charging even more to use the roads") it will be the end of them, they want us to use "public transport" and theres no such thing anymore as the company's are owned by shareholders and any proffits made will go in the pockets of these people instead of being used to maintain and improve the service. I have no idea where all this will end but as a motorist I'm sick of being screwed into the ground year after year because I want and need a car. The sad fact is that this government has created a situation where your better off if your a lazy b@stard who spends your whole life living on benefits, in work the other day we had a guy stood at the reception desk after getting fined by the court for whatever he did. Someone with a foreign accent walked by so he started ranting and raving about immigrants being a drain on tax's and when he was asked how he'd like to pay his fine he said "stop it out of my benefits", just about says it all really. The harder you work and try to get by the more you have taken off you and given to lazy f*ckers who think that living on benefits is a life style choice.

[spankyVR6]

The big point that this bumbling idiot of a prime minister (diliberate use of lower case there!) we have seems to think that cars are used solely from getting from A to B. I'm sure that neither he, nor his band of idiotic droogs ever lay thought to the fact that there are thousands (if not millions, judging by the response to the petition) of people in this country that enjoy driving and actually, GOD FORBID, drive for pleasure and a bit of fun.

I live about 13 miles from where I work, but to get there using public transport I would have to take two trains and then two buses (and none of this in a rural area either). Well that's real progression with the transport system, money well spent, I say!!! These great minded politicians think that we all work within one short bus/train journey from our work, but this just isn't the case!

And as for charging people on the congested roads at peak times of the day, well that's just another way of targeting the honest man/woman that gets off their arse and does an honest days graft!!! as Uruk Hai says "this government has created a situation where your better off if your a lazy b@stard who spends your whole life living on benefits".


What a sad, sad state this country has plummeted into, since Labour took power!!!

[Martz]

True about the transport system. I work 6 miles away and by car it is 15-20mins but 'pubic' transport it is 1hour 15mins.

[gibby]

A couple of points to make really, the only way that this could ever be done is if the infrastructure of public transport (i.e. buses, trams, trains etc) is improved, otherwise it becomes increasingly difficult for people to get to work as already mentioned by a couple of people. If I was to stay at home and cook crack cocaine and sell it on the street then I'd be ok, but it just becomes more difficult for people to get off their @rses and get to work. Who's going to want to go to work for say 12k in the city centre when it costs them £50+ a week to get there and park etc. The only reason that the congestion charge can work in London is because this infrastructure already exists, and why would anyone want to drive through London anyway. Another thing, it used to be £5 and now it's £8, I don't recall getting an increase in my pay packet of 60% and I bet no one living and working in London did either.

Another point, they will always hide behind "Global warming", but if it's introduced, why should it cost more to drive at peak times than out of peak times, does my car make less polution between the hours of 9am to 3pm ! I think not.

[Len]

The existing Rail network is virtually at capacity with its present control systems. If they invest eventually in the European system they will be able to run more trains closer together. NR has a programme to do this work but at this stage we are only at the pilot/test stage with two schemes just being started. If it proves workable it would take at least 20 years to convert the whole country.

So basically I am saying forget rail, what we got now is the best its gonna be for the forseeable future!

Big cities can go down the tram/light rail route. But those schemes have been fraught with problems, some work well others dont.

So the Government knows that we have no real alternative to road. Buses can be improved, but it mainly rests with the car. So they can basically do what they want.

Oh and to the Labour knockers - the reason the rail network is in the state it is in now is all down to the Tories! First in 1963 when Beaching wielded his axe and again in the late 80's early 90's when investment was cut, then it was sold off by Thatcher!

[turbodub]

It is an obvious revenue making exercise, the sad thing is it will have a severe impact on the poorer elements of our society. Wealthy people aren't going to be bothered about an extra few pounds here and there, but there are many people who struggle to make a living at the moment without the threat of living expenses increasing still further.

The 'use public transport' arguement doesn't really work as outlined above in a couple of very good posts. Of course there are environmental issues to consider, but I saw a documentary a couple of days ago which stated that the cattle population of the world produce more greenhouse gasses than fossil fuel burning transport, the figure was crazy something like 6x.

There is also plenty of oil despite what the oil and petrol companies say, they just love telling you all its running out before sitting back and watching their profits go through the roof.

[Fielder]

Okay. So heres the million dollar Question...

If everybody hates blair and Labour.....

WHO THE f**k KEEPS VOTING FOR THEM THEN!!!!?!!!

I dont know one persion whos happy with the goverment, But obviously sombody is, or they wouldnt keep getting into power like this. So what the hell is going on?

[yorkie]

I think we are missing the bigger issue here.

I can see pros and cons to road charging but what I object to is the method they propose to use to make the charges.

As I understand it they are proposing to fit all cars with a GPS transmitter to log road use.

How long will it be before they also use this method to catch you speeding anywhere any time or just to find out where you are?

[animaniac]

If you go back to when thatcher was in power take the year 1987 petrol was 37 pence per litre, there were national speed limits everywhere, and there were NO GATSOS OR SAFETY CAMERA VANS, or cycle lanes or bus lanes, and kids learned the green cross code!

Now we have serious congestion problems not supprising when they have replacing normal carageway with a bus lanes and have cheveron some duel carrageways into one lane and have dropped the speed limits on nearly every road in the uk!

Plus have saturated the roads with mini roundabouts, and traffic lights, they have also made many streets one way or added ring roads so you have to go the long way around to get to a place which use to take less than one miniute now takes longer depending on how long the ring road diversion is!

The uk law and tax systems are a joke!

As for congestion, the government love it! when petrol costs are as high as ours and concidering how much petrol millions of cars waste idling in traffic, add how much extra revenue the government is having from that wasted fuel, not to mension how much pollution that creates so they can then slap the driver with even higher taxes due to pollution caused by congestion hense congestion charge!

The same goes for speeding to them it's ok if you speed through a gatso or safety camera van aslong as you pay the ticket!

At the end of the day they preach speed kills, yet they don't stop you from speeding and commiting the offence in the first place, and also i have yet to see a safety camera van witness an accident caused by a speeding driver, concidering they are catching millions of drivers where are the accidents if speed is a factor!

surely one camera van operator has seen an accident happen when catching the speeding drivers!!

Obviously not the only thing theses vans are seeing is cars going at a speed which is suitable for both the car and the roads capabilities, after all were in 2007, and looking back to the 1980's we never had theses damn speed obsessed groups like brake who want to fcuk up driving for every driver in the uk!

[Uruk Hai]

I think dubtub has hit the nail on the head, Labour are suppose to be a party for the working class man and yet every kind of tax or charge that they introduce just screws those who can least afford it. I think its quite possible that some people who are earning barely more than they could receive on benefits will be forced into a situation where they end up having to give up there jobs as they will no longer be able to meet the cost of owning the car they need to get to work. To try answer Fielders question of who is voting for Labour considering we all seem to hate them, I think they're getting a few votes from the people who want to carry on living off benefits and have no intention of actually earning there money as long as they have a hole in there ass !