Sign this petition now!

If you price the roads, we will ALL pay more even if we don't drive; Think of delivery drivers, Supermarkets, Postal Services, Emergency Services...

I do drive and I own a car. If I went to Scotland I would fly or go by train. Then when I was there I could hire a car.

I agree with no road pricing when there is no alternative public transport.

Okay, look at it this way, in the late 1950's and sixties, Motorways were seen as the answer to take traffic away from ever congested roads, Take the A25 and M25 for example. The a25 winds its way through Tonbridge, Sevenoaks, Westerham and onwards. The M25 was built, partly across the old track bed to Westerham. So, take into consideration that the A25 is now relatively quiet, and will incur less road toll charges. The M25, as some of may know, is the biggest log jammed road anywhere. This will incur a hefty toll charge. So what are people going to do? Exactly, go back onto the old A-road, exactly a reverse of what was hoped and indeed planned for. This will just be a vicious circle, and is just another tax on the already over burdened motorist.

But jts what do you do when you live in the middle of the Cambridgeshire Fens' your local train station has TWO trains a day each way Monday to Saturday, and the nearest bus stop is a three mile walk away along a contry lane to the main road. It's a 12 mile bus ride. Just what do you do? Oh yeah, I'm going to use the train just to go into town to get some bread and milk, because the local village store and post office closed down! Yeah, I'll just sit at the station from 08.00 until 22.30 on a hot summers day, waiting for my next train.

Yet we get trains that are jam-packed already. ;D Time for the infamous Japanese cattlecars...

But why do you have to drive, Chris M? I think I can say I can predict your answer...

Not a chance. I signed the other petition, against road pricing.

Driving is a significant part of my daily life. I'm run an in-home/in-office on-site IT callout service to fix/upgrade people's PCs. Can you possibly imagine if I had to switch to public transport? I wouldn't get as much done in a day, and I'd wind up having conversations that went like this:

"Yes Mr. X, but I can't be there for another hour as I won't be finished with this callout in time to get the next bus..."

Road pricing = my costs increase, which get passed on to my clients.
Public transport = I get less done in a day because I'm relying on a system that just isn't suitable for this kind of work.

If I worked in my town centre, then it'd be a 15 minute cycle ride which is all down hill on the way in. Or if I worked in one of the local town centres, then there are buses that go there - public transport may be a possibility when commuting. But, I work all over my area and on a busy day I'll drive well over a hundred miles per day. I also work some very unsociable hours - up to midnight sometimes. I can see a great number of clients on a daily basis simply because I can get myself from one to the other without needing to rely on public transport. Also, buses around here don't run to a lot of areas at that time of night.

If road pricing comes in, then it comes in. But I'm certainly not going to encourage it for these reasons, and all the other absolutely valid reasons that other users have stated above.

Good point. There's not a huge amount of it, but it'd be totally unpractical to lug it all around. Another good thing about the car is when I get to my client's location I only need to take whatever parts I need, instead of lugging the whole lot in!

I wish that everyone would stop driving and switch to public transport for one day only. The entire system would grind to a halt in the first few minutes of rush hour.

I wonder where that £35 billion quid from road tax etc went last year? I suspect it wasn't on the roads!

With regards to road pricing, whilst I am against it, I would like to see a reasonable debate take place. One where we are shown the Pro's and Con's without the spin and are told how exactly it would effect us. Would we end up paying more? Would it significantly reduce congestion in the long term? How would it effect businesses (especially small ones)? Lets face it, it isn't about making the planet a greener place, and it isn't about reducing congestion, so lets cut the c**p and get down to exactly how it will change our daily routine and our pocket.

That could be amusing.



I suspect a good amount of it went to the EU, some £39mil per day was the last figure I heard.



I absolutely agree that a good debate needs to happen. As it is, I think if road pricing is introduced, then a majority of people will end up paying more. The old granny who drives a couple of miles once a week to the shops will likely wind up paying less. As for small businesses, well, you've seen my take on it above.

I think you're absolutely right about it not being about green issues. If the government were truely interested in green, then they should be promoting electric cars, and putting some serious cash into public transport. And I mean enough that I could walk out of my door and within 10 minutes be on an alternative-fuel bus to the town center, then return at whatever ungodly hour I happen to choose to come back at.

While I accept that ultimately, people will need to change their habits, pricing them off the road is not going to achieve that. Ultimately, instead of walking out of the door and straight to the car, people will need to walk to the nearest main road and get a REGULAR bus instead. There will need to be a little less rush in their day to day life and a little more planning so what they do coincides with the public transport services. And that's just the tip of that particular iceberg.

There is the need for something to be done, but I don't think that road pricing RIGHT ACROSS the country is the correct answer.

Exactly my prediction, cr@p and inconvenient public transport...

I would relish the opportunity, to walk 1 1/2 miles to the nearest railway station. As the crow flies my nearest railway station is just under 8 miles away.

Of course if Beeching hadn't had his way, then my closest station would be about 1/3rd of a mile away...

It would not encourage me to move closer to Taunton, for starters why should I have to move?
I like living where I am - I live in a nice house in a nice village. I do not like my job and am not a big fan of Taunton, so I don't see my future there and so do not want to buy a house - not that I could afford to with house prices as they are. I would be extremely lucky to find somewhere to rent for ~£30/week.

Well you don't have to. But you are using the roads a lot more than the people who do move, so there's some logic in expecting you to pay more towards them. That said, the existing petrol tax would seem to have that covered.