Road Charging

We need to pay more for our car use, but the method proposed by the Government is a complete dogs breakfast.

Like everything they do, it has not been thought through.

1. Let's say the black box costs £300 for each car. Would everybody be able to afford to pay it?

2. How would the charge be collected? The vast majority by then would have the Internet, so you just pay on-line. But what about those, who don't have credit cards, use the Internet etc.?

3. About 10% of all cars are not taxed, insured or even registered. Do you think that this will get smaller? Probably, but there will always be a hard core who don't pay.

4. We own a third heritage car used for a few miles each year. Will that need to be fitted with a device? And what about those who have large car collections for high days and holidays?

5. We have friends who live in both France and England. They'll obviously register their car in the cheapest place.

6. What about hire cars? Imagine your average thick Yank hiring a car in London and spending all his time stuck in traffic. Would he be prepared to pay a large charge on top of the hire charges?

I could go on.

What we need is something that cuts congestion and car use.

Now let's look at journeys that people take. Imagine a single bloke with a car living in a commuter town. He might make 250 journeys to work in a year, perhaps 20 long journeys to see friends and families and a hundred or so to the pub and for local entertainment.

Typically, at least half of his mileage is work-related.

None of the solutions take into account the fact that increasingly people are working more and more over the Internet. I've done that for years and make perhaps one work-related journey a week. My biggest problem is that there is not enough Park and Ride spaces at towns I visit.

We should also raise fuel taxes to encourage people to use alternatives. I know it's a blunt instrument, that affects rural areas more, but then even there, there are solutions such as car sharing that will work.

But my biggest argument against satellite tracking of cars is the fact that the Government will know where I am at all times.

So stuff it!