Hampster and the Mirror joins in...
http://www.mirror.co.uk/tm_headline=no- ... _page.html
NO TO THE TOLLTAX
Why charge us £1.34 a mile to drive on busy roads..we pay enough already
WE are under attack. Yet again, the Government is planning a controversial new tax on motoring.
Well, I've finally had enough. And I know I'm not alone. That's why today I'm proud to launch the Daily Mirror's Say No to Tolls campaign. Our aims are simple - to put the brakes on the Government's proposed Road Transport Act, which could see cars fitted with an electronic tracking tag and tolls introduced on most major roads.
Under the outrageous scheme every car would be installed with a device to monitor movement via satellite or roadside beacon.
And motorists will be forced to stump up up to £1.34 A MILE to drive on the busiest roads during rush hour.
At present the M6, to the north of Birmingham, is the only British toll road.
But with these nightmare proposals we are facing the very real danger that ALL major roads in Britain could one day be saddled with heavy toll charges.
And, of course, who are the people who will suffer most? The poor, that's who. We could also face six months in jail if the tracking devices are tampered with and wardens and council officials would have the power to stop and search any car to check if the equipment - most likely an electronic windscreen tag - had been interfered with.
The nine areas earmarked for trials by the end of 2009 are Norfolk, the East Midlands, Reading, Cambridgeshire, Durham, Greater Manchester, Shrewsbury and Shropshire, Tyne and Wear and the West Midlands.
A petition demanding the scheme is scrapped was posted on the PM's website and has received an incredible 647,085 signatures in two months, swamping the 272,000 signatures received for Jamie Oliver's Feed Me Better campaign or the 22,000 who want to repeal the Hunting Act.
It was started by motorist Peter Roberts, who was outraged by the proposals. I'm calling on Mirror readers to sign up and show the Government motorists won't take it.
There has been a lot of talk recently about just what it means to be British. How do we define a modern Brit?
I've always believed that, regardless of ethnic origins, religious beliefs or financial status, we can be defined as the kind of people who will, if pushed far enough, eventually cough politely and say: "Would you mind awfully not doing that." And I reckon it's time we all said it on this one.
ARE we prepared to be taxed for the privilege of going about our business? At what point do we turn round and say that something is a basic right rather than a privilege, and as such not something we expect to be taxed for?
The road network costs around £1.1billion a year to look after. It is an incredible drain on the nation's resources, so why shouldn't the motorist be taxed to pay for it? Well for one thing, who exactly is "the motorist"?
The phrase has been so demonized recently that at the mention of it, I just see Mr Toad at the wheel of his Bentley making life impossible for everyone else. When the car first arrived a hundred years ago, it was a plaything for the super-rich. Real-life Mr Toads would rocket about the countryside as we rode about on horseback or walked to work.
But now, it's pretty much impossible to exist without relying, to some degree, on the car. The high street can no longer cater for our daily needs - we have to make our way to out-of-town supermarkets by car.
Most of the train stations have gone so even if we want to use a train, we have to drive to the station. It's unlikely there's a doctor within walking distance and it's almost certain the dentist is a drive away.
Also, our kids can't cycle to school for fear of what might happen to them on the way. If you don't actually own a car, it's likely you will have had a lift in one recently. Or your post arrived in one. Or your lunch was delivered to the supermarket in a van.
Let's not talk of "the motorist". Let's instead say "us" or "we". Driving is not a privilege any more; it's a necessity. Why should we be punished for getting on with it?
In every pound we spend on petrol, about 80p is already taken in tax. Our car has to be taxed so we can use it on the road and now, when it's on the road, we'll be asked to pay again so it can move along the road and use up the petrol we've paid tax on.
We have already paid tax on our earnings. Why should we then be taxed again when we spend a proportion of those earnings on driving to work? We are being taxed for the privilege of paying tax. Where does it end?
And what about our privacy? Our cars will have to be fitted with tracking devices. The alternative is that we each sit down and fill in a form detailing our route and the time of day every time we get in the motor.
The device can report our road usage to a central agency that can issue bills for the miles travelled. That is a disturbing prospect. People objected to ID cards on the grounds of human rights. That's nothing compared with this invasion of privacy.
I don't know about you, but I'm not a spy. Neither am I having an affair or hiding a drug habit. In fact, I can't think of a single thing I do that is of interest to anyone else or how information about it might be useful. But I am desperately uncomfortable with the idea of my journeys being tracked and analysed by a faceless agency. It will be illegal to tamper with the devices, but I'm going to have a great many accidents with cups of coffee over that box, I can tell you. In fact, not a day will pass without something spilling on it, a dog eating it or it just catching fire.
So to help prevent all of the above, back our campaign. But hurry up - you've only got 15 days left to make a difference.
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