With the party conference season in full swing, the Alliance of British Drivers (ABD) has moved quickly to confirm its continuing opposition to the policy of ‘Pay per Mile’ road pricing.
The lobby group reaffirmed its stance on the subject after road pricing made a return to the political agenda in recent weeks, with Tory Mayor of London Boris Johnson proposing earlier this month that the system could be introduced in the future.
ABD spokesman Sean Corker said: "The car represents the gold standard for mobility. Its flexibility creates opportunity and improves families' quality of life. This is why the vast majority choose the car rather than other compromised modes of transport. Road tolls work by pricing the poorest off the road whilst making the rest pay more for mobility. Drivers currently pay £58bn in motoring taxes with less than 16% spent on our crumbling road infrastructure. There is no guarantee that road tolls will mean investment in our road network and no basis for trust that any future Government or commercial vested interest currently pushing road pricing, would not exploit the revenue raising possibilities of 'pay per mile' to the hilt".
When the idea of road pricing was floated in 2007 by the last Government, over 1.8million people signed a Downing Street petition against the plan. Peter Roberts, creator of that petition, said o the latest developments: "Drivers have drawn a line in the sand over road pricing and we should not have to re-fight this battle. Have politicians such short memories when road pricing and tolls were so comprehensively rejected such a short time ago? Road pricing will add significantly to the cost of living for working families when their budgets are already stretched."
A recent survey by the ABD found 85% of respondents against the policy of road pricing in any form. Over 87% also disagreed with the policy of road tolls on new strategic road capacity. Legislation enabling this type of road tolling is contained within the 'Infrastructure Bill', currently going through Parliament. Meanwhile over 80% of respondents felt that the HS2 high speed rail should be scrapped and part of the money used to upgrade and expand the UK motorway network.
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