Eurovision 2024

[Geezer7348]

hiya, as a road user I object to having to pay more money out for as the amount of tax on this country is getting beyond a joke, I found the text listed below on another website and thought everybody else who's a road user may wish to vote. If you do or do not wish to vote why not discuss if the new PAYG Road taxing scheme is a good thing?

Sorry if this is covered elsewhere but it's soooo important.

The following is a copy of a circular doing the rounds at the moment:

If you are a motorist, then this affects you.

Sarah Kennedy was talking about this proposed car tax scheme on BBC Radio 4.

Apparently there is only until 20 February for you to object to the 'Pay as You Go' Road Tax.

The petition is on the 10 Downing St website but they didn't tell anybody about it. Therefore at the time of Sarah's comments only 250,000 people had signed it so far and 750,000 signatures are required to stop them introducing it.

This is legit... from the 10 Downing Street's website - http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/traveltax/

Once you've given your details (you don't have to give your full address, just house number and postcode will do), they will send you an email with a link in it. Once you click on that link, you'll have signed the petition.

It takes less than 2 minutes to do

Democracy in action?

The government's proposal to introduce road pricing will mean you having to purchase a tracking device for your car and paying a monthly bill to use it. The tracking device will cost about £200 to install and in a recent study by the BBC, the lowest monthly bill was £28 for a rural florist and £194 for a delivery driver. A non working mum who used the car to take the kids to school paid £86 in one month!

On top of this massive increase in tax, you will be tracked. Somebody will know where you are at all times. They will also know how fast you have been going, so even if you accidentally creep over a speed limit in time you can probably expect a Notice of Intended Prosecution with your monthly bill.

If you care about your freedom and stopping the constant bashing of the car driver, sign the petition on No 10's new website and pass this on to as many people as possible.

Here's the link again - http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/traveltax/

[Jamie]

Ive just signed it, its up to 1,476,072 now, ridiculous the amount they want to tax now!!!!!

[DaNNiP15]

i dont drive can i still sign it?

[Timsk]

There are currently hundreds of people signing (as I just have) every few minutes - I think this one's going to go through the roof, so hopefully they won't be able to ignore it, as they have so far... Thanks for the heads-up/reminder Geezer!

[matt_32510]

Ive signed it, im getting fed up of this government, ripping us off, next they will be charging you for having a s**t.

[Lucinda]

I think it may make sense in environmental and economic terms. It's not popular, but thinking about the long run, something has to be done to tackle congestion, pollution and resource depletion. Congestion is quite a problem in this country because we are relatively small.

A lot of the people signing that petition are only doing so because they've been told to by other people and haven't really read about or thought through the issue properly.

As for the privacy issue, there are CCTV cameras and number plate recognition cameras all over the place.

[Timsk]

I do take your point Lucinda - something has to be done on both counts for the long run.

But I think road pricing is too soon, given the lack of real alternatives at this point in time... I do my bit, as far as I can, on environmental issues (recycling, making sure anything I'm not using is properly switched off, walking where it's feasible to) but the original suggestion was for road-pricing measures to replace other road user taxes, such as on fuel, road tax, insurance etc. But at this point it looks like it will be on top of the existing measures, which is too punitive in my opinion.

Also, a lot of the revenues generated supposedly to shore up our overextended road networks and public transport networks have been syphoned off elsewhere - such as to support the public services. I work for one (the NHS), and am pleased at the increased investment - but not necessarily at how it's been arrived at (or how it's been spent)...

I'd just like to see an alternative first before such measures are brought in... This is just my relatively uninformed opinion, so I hope I don't offend anyone with it; and I'd be happy for someone to point out where I'm wrong.

But at this point in time I'm against it for the reasons I've attempted to explain above.

[Jono]

How exciting to wake up to an e-mail from Tony Blair

[Geezer7348]

looks like my single signature in the petition didnt make any odds, defo not voting labour back in to government, bunch of clowns