For a while now there has been ongoing work around setting up a nationwide tolling system for the UK. Already there have been vast sums of money spent on trying to sort out the infrastructure and working out how to soften up the great British public into accepting the proposals.
When you consider that tolling can only work by pricing people off the roads, it makes you wonder why the government didn’t see the recent backlash coming. Did they really think we’d just sit at home accepting that we could no longer afford to go out? Do they reckon there are millions of people clogging up the roads, driving for pleasure?
Peter Roberts, who set up the anti-tolls petition that racked up 1.8 million signatures, has become a national hero. But now that the counting is over, he’s being denied the chance to contact those who supported him – although Tony Blair has been allowed to send an email to each one. If you want to hear Peter’s side of the story, take a look at www.traveltax.org.uk
Incidentally, I’ve recently been spending a lot of time in Europe, travelling to Paris only last week to visit the Retromobile classic car event. I forked out €19 in tolls on the way there and the same on the way back – and I didn’t care. Why do I not care about paying to travel on French roads, but I wouldn’t entertain the idea in the UK?
My guess is that you do not mind paying:
autonut | 27 Feb 07 - 12:50A. because you don’t pay the French equivalent of our VED, and
B. because their autoroutes are well maintained and relatively free of traffic.
Am I close?
To me it’s an obvious answer. Having driven on French Toll roads they are fast, well surfaced and have excellent service areas. In the UK they are the exact opposite…
Tone Malone | 27 Feb 07 - 12:52