Greedy Government

Another day, another slap in the face of the UK electorate and motorists, delivered by our intrusive, money grabbing, idiotic and insane Government. It amazes me that at after a little over a month of being re-elected, a previously unheard of, brand spanking new policy can be unearthed from the stinking quagmire of filth and corruption that forms the foundations of our so called political system.

Not content then with the preposterous idea of issuing everyone with an ID card and breeching a smattering of human rights and privacy issues, the latest gem of ingenuity comes from the transport department who, in their infinite wisdom, have come up with what one could only describe as utter insanity.

In the latest big brother annihilation upon personal rights and liberties, the government has decided that it wants to charge every road user for each and every mile that they drive on the road. The price of a mile will depend on what classification of road you are on and the time of day that you are traveling. For example, if I'm on the m25 at 8.30 in the morning I might get charged £1.34 for every mile of tarmac I traverse upon. Then again if I'm on a B class road at midnight I might only get stung for 2 pence a mile.

You might wonder how they are going to implement such a system - the answer to that is of course GPS. Every car would have a little black box which records where you are and how far you've gone so say the government.

But it seems to me they've missed an opportunity - I mean if they can track where we are and how far we've gone, surely they can tell how fast we were going too? I'm pretty sure they haven't missed this trick, and so what initially starts out as track and trace exercise can immediately and covertly be recognised as an opportunity for catching people who are speeding (a well know revenue income for the government) - hell, if the motorist is effectively carrying the gatso themselves, we wont need traffic cops, speed cameras, radar guns etc etc - you can just incriminate yourself!

But its not just that aspect of it that pisses me off, here are my other FOAD comments to the government regarding their latest plan:-

• Road & Fuel Tax
  Despite stating that road and fuel tax would be replaced by the new pay per mile scheme, why fix something that isn't broke. Fuel tax works well and still effectively taxes people by how much they use the commodity - if I do more miles I have to put more fuel in the car which means they get more tax. As for road tax, it is my understanding that this goes towards maintenance of the roads and the like, so if they implement the new scheme and don't have the revenue from road tax (a similar amount for all road users) surely they will be losing income as people won't make journeys that will bump up their pay as you go bill.
• Congestion
  Considering one of the main aims of this bill is to cut congestion I fail to see how it will do this, it will just move it to different times and different places. People will avoid rush hour (and thus create a new ones) so they don't get charged a premium. They will also avoid the higher cost major routes and utilise other cheaper roads which probably are not built to sustain heavy volumes of traffic (causing congestion on other roads and increasing their maintenance costs).
• Privacy
  The government already knows too much about everyone and it's about time they stopped meddling in matters of privacy. I for one would rather go to prison than allow a device in my car which allows the government to see where I am, and at what time. It opens the flood gates to a whole realm of intrusive privileges that this government feels it has the right to undertake - if they get a foot in the door it will only lead to the inevitable downfall of what the western world is suppose to strive for - freedom.
• Public Transport
  Say for some inexplicable reason the government get this ridiculous policy approved (and I really hope that the UK populous would fervently disallow such a move) then how the hell are we suppose to get around on a public transport system that is what valves are to transistors - outdated, unreliable, infrequent and unsuitable in today's world. If every person in the UK, for one day, used our public transport system the whole country would grind to a halt a darn site quicker than what is caused by the current congestion on our roads. There isn't enough of it, it is too expensive and it certainly doesn't cover enough of the country effectively.
• Restrictive cost to the user
  Consider this. Currently I live 284 miles from my family. God forbid, something happens to one of them - its early in the morning and I need to get there ASAP - so I have to travel through rush hour and on the motorways. To get there under the new scheme I would have to fork out about £380.56 as well as the cost of the diesel without tax added. For a return trip that would be £761.12!! I find it hard enough to put the £40 in my tank now to fill it up, there is no way that I would be able to pay the £761.12 expected of me from the government. Therefore I wouldn't be able to see my family, a liberty taken away from me by the bastards in the Houses Of Parliament.

I have to wonder how much more lunacy is required on behalf of the government before the people of the UK sit up and take note, and actually do something about the problem before it's too late to do anything. I can't imagine what other gimmicks will be introduced if they are allowed to remain in power for another 4 years. It's time the people had a voice, and in political terms, a choice. The UK has been brow beaten enough already - it's time to oust out the deceit.

Posted by Abi on the June 6, 2005 9:41 PM

sjon at June 8, 2005 7:21 AM Richard at June 10, 2005 11:48 PM