By Gemma Simpson, 7 February 2007 16:45
NEWS
An online petition against the proposed 'pay-as-you-drive' road charge has accumulated 750,000 signatures, suggesting significant dislike of the scheme among UK citizens.
The e-petition, hosted on the 10 Downing Street website, is due to close on 20 February 2007 and bloggers had been speculating that 750,000 signatures would be required to stop the government from introducing the road-charging scheme.
Photos: Germany's road-charging tech
See shots of the road-charging tech used on Germany's autobahns here.
However the Prime Minister's official spokesman said in a statement he was not aware of any threshold of signatures that would change government policy.
The spokesman added the consequences of doing nothing to stop congestion would lead to a 25 per cent increase in congestion in less than a decade.
Plans for a 'pay-as-you-drive' scheme, which a government-backed report claims would raise £28bn, have proved unpopular with silicon.com readers who have called the tax "highway robbery".
However, before the pay-as-you-drive tax was officially announced one survey found almost half the UK public would support a road-user charging scheme.
The proposed road-charging scheme could see drivers charged up to£1.30 per mile as they travel while GPS 'black box' technology would track their vehicle's journeys.
The road-charge petition is part of an e-petition feature on 10 Downing Street's website which allows individuals or groups to lobby the PM. It currently hosts petitions on a wide range of topics from 'ban Halloween' (with 78 signatures) to 'end all petitions' (with two votes).
Comments
There are 55 comments. Join the discussion
1. Iain
Lets all start smoking again then maybe thay will leave us alone ! yes we may all end up with cancer but at least it will be our own doing and not from what the government tell us to DO!
2. anonymous
Where is the petition in favour of road pricing? I want to sign it...
3. Mark Young
I think the comment "raising £28Billion" is probably misleading when you ask "Who for?". I am sure most of the revenue will be swallowed up by the firms running the infrastructure and collecting the revenue. HM Customs and Revenue won't see much apart from the VAT.
4. Harry the Hedgehog
750,000 selfish car-loving twats.
Probably the same bunch of moaners who criticise fuel tax. Hey, while we're at it, let's remove air travel taxes too. In fact, let's go the whole hog, turn the heating up to full and organise a rip-down-the-forest-day.
5. Twiss Butler
Considering that there is a better alternative available that uses existing technology - the odometer - to provide an efficient free-market remedy to road congestion, the headlong rush to road charging looks like nothing more than a scheme to market costly black box measuring devices.
Buying miles from auto insurers at a classified rate, like buying gallons of gasoline at the pump, is the practical way to let drivers decide for themselves how much to spend or save on personal transportation. Get the facts at
www.centspermilenow.org
6. anonymous
At £1.30 per mile, paying in excess of £70 per day to travel to work is a no brainer... give up work..
7. Paul
I signed the petition, but not because I disagree with the idea of cutting car usage. Actually, I think usage needs to be seriously reduced, especially now that home-working is a possibility for so many (albeit not all) people.
So why did I sign it? Simply because I feel it's an over-complicated and inelegant solution to the problem, not to mention the privacy implications.
Surely the same thing could be achieved far more simply and cheaply by increasing petrol tax? This has the following advantages:
1. It is simple. OK, I mentioned this already, but I think it's a biggie!
2. It encourages the purchase of more fuel efficient cars, as well as lower mileage.
3. Since motorway and trunk-road driving is on the whole more fuel-efficient, it encourages these rather than clogging small country lanes.
4. Similarly, it encourages people to avoid using cars unnecessarily for short (and fuel-inefficient) journeys. This has the fortunate side effect of giving people a bit of fresh air and excercise!
5. I could go on...
Unfortunately, our present government has a habit of preferring over-complicated solutions to simplicity and elegance. In fairness to them, any increase in petrol tax risks a repeat of the fuel blockades we saw a few years ago, but having said that, I really don't think this would be better received.
8. EBGB
I'm with Harry the Hedgehog.
I don't care how the drivers are encouraged to get their selfish @rses off the roads, just so long as it happens.
We're all filmed far too much already; I hate the loss of privacy. I also loath the government's over the top approach to everything, which is (as another pointed out) crude and expensive. Sod the fuel protesters, up the tax & make the polluter pay. It's free to implement as it's already in there, and it's a lot harder to fiddle than any black box (black market, more like) situation.
9. EBGB
And another thing. On the e-mail going round it says "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."
OH DEAR!!!!
This is the real giveaway as to this being the "poor little put upon motorist" fraternity. Yet again it's apparently a breach of one's freedom to break the speed limit and be hauled up for it. Tell that to my cousins who lost their mother when they were aged 12 and 14 to one Porsche driving moron racing another.
10. Joe
I signed it because there is no realistic way for me to get to work otherwise. I work on an industrial estate where public transport is not well serviced and lets face it, a bus being on time would be a miracle. Its too far away for me to walk or cycle, so what other choices are there??
11. Jeremy Wickins
Cars, aeroplanes, and computers are signs of wonderful progress. Sure, I'd like to get the selfish (i.e. the drivers who are driving only because they have to) off the road so that I and other people who actually *enjoy* driving can get on and have fun. However, I equally enjoy being able to have the choice about where to work due to my computer and broadband access. I rarely need to go to my office at all these days. Flying is fine in itself, especially given that my wife has family abroad, but the sheer inefficiency of all the security means that I don't go on planes for anything else than duty visits - conferences either supply a video link, or I don't participate!
In this ramble lies the answer - encourage the use of IT to make it possible to work from home, and a great deal of congestion will go away. Then re-nationalise the bus and train companies so that they return to being *public services* (that is an old term that many people won't know), again using IT to ensure that they actually provide the service (tracking, anticipation, etc). This is sensible use of IT, not the half-baked ideas coming out of Whitehall based on knowing everything about us, whilst we pay for it!
12. Jeremy Wickins
P.S. I also cycle and walk a lot, so I have even more invested in getting the half-hearted drivers off the road, with their lack of attention to what is important...
13. anonymous
what about school runs we are going to be penalised for picking our children up and making sure they get ome safetly its unfair plus my husband works for the NHS and drives all day to fix other peoples prblems will he be charged if so we are all going to loose good workers because they cant afford to work its silly
14. anonymous
Will the disabled drivers have to pay? Many are unable to use or even get on public transport!
15. NotWorthLiving
I would not be able to pay over £600 per trip to London to visit friends!!!
Even doing the weeking travel would cost HUNDREDS of pounds A WEEK. Aveage salary in my backwater part of the country about £12,000 PA.. How on earth can we afford to live, work, shop, eat, function as a society with this crazy TAX. We would not! We could not!
Anti social, anti liberty, anti joe public!
Only the rich and famouse will be able to travel on OUR roads.
Highway robbery! CRAZY! It would not be worth living being permanent prisoners in our own country.
16. anonymous
At the moment less than 30% of the road fund (car tax) charges goes back into roads, we also have a 70% tax on fuel prices do we honestly think that that if the goverment introduce a pay per mile system that ant of the money will go back into roads ?
To add insult to injury there will have to be a form of tracking system in place to ensure that drivers pay the correct ammount for the use of our roads, this would be another big brother tactic to make people accountable for their movements.
Our roads are congested but there is no doubt that the majority of our peoblems are caused by poor management of the road networks and poor knowledge of road users, education in all areas is the future and not making us all accountable for our movements at a premium
17. darryll brown
these charges will cripple road usres who are dissabled or on a low income and the goverment need to seriously think of other ways to reduce road users, the plans they want to put forward will do us good but maybe greener fuels could be the answer towards the ozone or put up road tax across the board to include every person who has a car or bike-----darryll, coalville
18. More2it
It's closer to 3Mil now!
Look, I drive for a living and all my employer does not pay my fuel, I wont be able to afford to keep my job.
Also the public transport down hear is a joke, unreliable (worst trains in the country) Not enough busses and those that run would get you to work 2 hours late)
Fare enough something needs to be done, but punishing the general public will not acomplish anything.
A little thought needs to go in first, how about raising Road Tax and investing in Biofuel, or Hydrogen Cells at affordable prices --- Free LPG converstions etc etc.
19. Ian
Road tax, fuel tax, speed tax, now journey tax...do they think we're stupid? I for one won'tbe stupid enough to let my nextvote goto waste!!
20. anonymous
Why dont they scrap road tax and increase duty on petrol?
The bigger the car or higher the mileage the more you pay.
Much farer? I think so.
John from Basildon
21. anonymous
Don't you think we pay enough on road taxes as it is?!
22. Flipper
I can see all the car commuters that travel between Sheffield and Leeds and Leeds and Sheffield in a morning jumping on a bus right outside their home and travelling directly to work, in the same time it takes them in he car.
Of course they can set off to work in a morning at 3.00am and use the 24 hour bus service that picks them up right outside their home and takes them directly to work.
Come on get real. its a tax, no one is going to travel to work on public transport from outlaying suburbs to catch the main liner to the city. B he time hey get home itl be time to go to work. I'd like to see the MPs travel daily to the capitol from their home towns on public transport.
23. Kill 'em all i say
i guess EBGB and hedgehog walk to london, bullshit. i hate cars as much as the next hippy but at the end of the day we need to move long distances and at the moment the government won't use the exsisting technology for non polutants like the lithuim,water or electric engines.
i love the typical hippy moral high horse people jump on,whilst offering no realistic reform. Idealisms are all good, but you can't just flip things over in one day. if we'r talking idealisms,i'd have u all kid and live on the planet by myself.
unless u live in a forest i suggest you dismount that horse.
24. anonymous
Having read the comments there is bitching both ways here, i dont want to pay more tax and you lot are a bunch of selfish car lovers.
May be we should be looking at why so many people 'need' to use a car every day.
Quite simple, public transport is no longer 'public' and traiding standards need to look at the 'transport' side of it.
For me to get to work on 'public' transport is totally impractical. I live half way between Coventry and Leicester and work on the north side of Coventry.
To use public transport would require a bus from the village i live in to the centre of leicester, a train from Leicester to Coventry followed by another bus or train to Bedworth, followed by a walk onto the estate i work on, total time is about 2hours. or i can drive (or cycle in good weather) 13 miles which takes 20 minutes. cost is another factor which i can not be bothered to work out other than by car costs about £2 and PT about £10ish.
So from this the govornment needs to take back control of public transport, improve the services and reduce the costs, then it is once again a viable option.
Untill this happens what choice do we have.
25. anonymous
We have by far the most expensive public transport system in the world. As far as London is concerned, statistics show it is also getting more dangerous.
Years of pmpous complacency by the British public who will, it seems, put up with appaling service and high prices leaving many of us with no practical alternative to using a car.
If the government would state exactly what it proposes to do with the money that will have a real benefit, I am sure more people would support a charge by mile scheme, but be honest, does anyone really believe the government won't keep any money raised?
26. p.f.turner
no road charges
27. Linda Turner
how are families going to keep in touch when it will cost so much to go and visit. Families no longer live in the next road or even next village but have to move where they can afford to buy a home
28. anonymous
Road charges will destroy the country - they work in France and other european countries but this government is just so greedy that the charges will not stop at motorways as we well know. In france there is no road tax - will the government do the same here? No, just more and more taxes until uprisings/ mass demonstrations stops the whole country's workforce in its tracks. High road charges means higher charges for everything you buy. Isn't it hard enough to bring up a family now without more worry???
29. KAREN SALE
To pay £125.00 a week in road charges would mean i would have to give up my job, i could not afford to pay over taxed petrol prices, insurance on my car plus the road charges and still have enough money to support my family.
30. JUSTINE
Why should we have to pay road tax, when we live n a society today dependant on transport. Yeah ill use a bus or a train if they were regular and a reasonable price! Yeah lets put more tax on petrol and on the roads, as the goverment know we will have to pay, as most british people cannot survive without a car! I think its discusting how people can be in favour of it. I think ebnough money is taken away from us before we get our paycheck let alone trying to take it every day!!
31. Derrick Priestley
Any road charges paid by a business, especially those operating on low margins, will have to pass on the charges to their Clients. This happens all the way down the line, and ends up at the end user with increased costs of ALL products.
We will never reduce the amount of vehicles on our roads until we have a reliable, clean and safe alternative form of Public Transport
32. Anthony Dibble
The road charging scheme is typical of the "sticking plaster government" that we have seen over the past decade. Where is the analysis of the root cause of our congestion problems. Simple techniques such as "5 whys" would be helpful: why are our roads congested? - because there are too many cars using them concurrently. Why are there too many cards using them concurrently? - because most people need to get to work at the same time/becuase most people find it difficult to get to work using public transport. etc. Until the government comes up with ways to encourage flexible and home-working schemes, improve public transport, and many many other possible measures, we are going to have this problem. In the meantime, people don't have alternatives so road charging will be of limited value and is a horrendously complex and expensive "solution". If the government insists on half-bakes measures, then pick a cheap one and increase road tax.
33. Anthony Dibble
The road charging scheme is typical of the "sticking plaster government" that we have seen over the past decade. Where is the analysis of the root cause of our congestion problems. Simple techniques such as "5 whys" would be helpful: why are our roads congested? - because there are too many cars using them concurrently. Why are there too many cards using them concurrently? - because most people need to get to work at the same time/becuase most people find it difficult to get to work using public transport. etc. Until the government comes up with ways to encourage flexible and home-working schemes, improve public transport, and many many other possible measures, we are going to have this problem. In the meantime, people don't have alternatives so road charging will be of limited value and is a horrendously complex and expensive "solution". If the government insists on half-bakes measures, then pick a cheap one and increase road tax.
34. larry
I would like to add to the petition against the proposed new road charged
hope I have the correct address.... I would like also to ask how much of the monies collected by the government from road users is spent on the UK roads
35. anonymous
"Probably the same bunch of moaners who criticise fuel tax. Hey, while we're at it, let's remove air travel taxes too. In fact, let's go the whole hog, turn the heating up to full and organise a rip-down-the-forest-day"
i think harry the hedgehog is onto somethink lets lower all the road taxes now!!
36. anonymous
My name is Ann from Telford i think the Motorist pays enough charges for the road with the Petrol prices and the Road Tax i feel thid country is no longer a free thinking place to live in
37. Katrina Coles
I think it is disgraceful that the Government want to charge us even more money to drive on our roads when they are not mantained properly. I am disgusted at this suggestion, don't we pay enough already MOT, CAR TAX AND INSURANCE..........??????? When we fill our cars up with fuel at least 80% of that is in taxes. Where does all this money go????? I agree we need to help the Enviroment but why does this have to hit our back pockets. Lets face it the only reason the Government want to charge us even more is to help fund these Enviromental Issues. This wouldn't be the situation if they spent our taxes more wisely!!!!!!!! I think the Government need to take notice of the General Public (the people who matter) and Listen. WE DO NOT WANT TO GIVE YOU EVEN MORE OF OUR HARD EARNED CASH .... YOU GET ENOUGH ALREADY!!!!! Instead of giving yourselves a tidy payrise put that money back into the Public Sector where we will all benefit!!!!!!!!!!!
38. anonymous
I want to sign a petition in favour, too. Congestion and pollution is appalling in the city where I live, and most of it appears to be caused by fat, lazy people making five-minute journeys, e.g. taking their fat, lazy offspring to school.
Maybe they'll have a 'go-slow', like they don't spend hours every week at a standstill.... You're having a laaaaaaaarf!
39. Hina
I feel the road charges are completely ludacris, i don't currently drive but promised myself i will this year however i may think twice this year. My husband has a job which involves driving, i feel for him more because as well as PETROL, TAX, INSURANCE, MOT we now have ROAD CHARGES. I think their needs to be a better way in trying to beat climate change.
40. anonymous
how do i vote against the road charge scheme?
41. EBGB
Hina - the only way to save the planet is to reduce CO2 production. By not driving you will save money (as a student surely you qualify for reductions that the rest of us don't get anyway?) and do us all a favour.
Kill 'em all - call me a hippy if you want. But politicians follow votes, so if private transport gets too expensive, there will be votes in public transport. You didn't bother responding to my comment that fuel tax is the only real solution to persuading people to drive less. Just out of interest, what's your own solution to your own life? Why do you need to travel these long distances?
And yeah, as it happens, I do walk to work. 1.75 miles, half an hour, each way. Free & easy. If a few more people made their kids walk (in groups, obviously) the same kind of distances, we'd be better placed to save the planet and the NHS whilst we were at it.
42. Andrew John Willis
Why is there not a petition to sign IN FAVOUR of road pricing?
43. Rich Jefferson
When will people learn that taxes wont stop people using cars and vans. Make public tansport cheaper and more reliable. Also I agree that cars cause a great deal of damage to our planet, but various technologies have been around for years that reverse these effects, but becasue of the greed of decision makers around the world we will not see them being used in our life times anyway. Money is still the main cause of pollution.
I don't want this tax as I work for a charity in a rural area with no public transport, I drive a small car on the m6, but I have no other way to do my job.
44. Janet Sugden
We pay enough in road taxes already/ I, for one, as an oap could not afford any further charges. Most of my driving is done going to see my elderly mother in a nursing home. I would have tostop doing this if charges were increased.
45. anonymous
Joe average cannot claim mileage expenses like the politicians do. Would these politicians who are proposing this charge be so keen to do so if they are not allowed to claim mileage expenses?
If the charge is allowed, will they increase their expenses claim per mile to cover the cost of this charge? and who do you think eventually pays for their expenses? it's that man Joe again.
46. anonymous
We live in the middle of nowhere. Cost of living is high. Nearest Post office is 5 miles away. Who pays the extra we spend to post a letter?
It is not surprising people do not want to live here. food costs more here, facilities minimal.
You don't live in the realworld.
Hospital facilities are appauling. Why should we pay to transport our elerly relatives to hospital when we are charged for the privaledge?
47. colin wheal
Another back door way of getting more money from the poor motorist!
48. anonymous
Pay enough tax on petrol and road tax as it is without adding more on top.
How about putting pensions up to help pay for it all!!!
49. stephen davies
get a life loser, lets all get out and about on our floating leaves, the computer you used for this post was electric wasnt it? where do you think the electric comes from?, not the forests. oh and i think i might have stood on a twig before (thought id tell you that to upset you....freak)
50. anonymous
If public transport was cheaper, more reliant and frequent as it is in many other European countries then maybe the British public wouldn't mind using public transport. For my self living and working in Kent I would have to catch a bus and a train to get to get to my place of work, which is both timely and costly. It is far more affordable for me to drive and pay for all day parking than it is to use local transport. If I want to go out after work with out my car it would mean me leaving early because public transport home finishes at around 10pm. I would be happy to use public transport if it was cost efficient and had extended hours so that I could get home, even if the extended hours just operated on certain days of the week.
51. anonymous
No to road charges we pay enough as it is.
52. anonymous
We use cars because public transport is rubbish.
53. andrew o'brien
i feel its just another way of taxing the people of this country. we pay enough taxes for our roads with the road tax and the duty on fuel. it strikes me that our taxes are increasing on every front. pretty soon the british people will be able to afford to live in our own country. come on mr blair listen to the people.
54. Mick Grimshaw
Against Road Charges as this is another self tax
55. Denise Grimshaw
Against Road Charges