Mike Rutherford's column

14th March 2007

	Car-related controversies such as the death of MG Rover pale into insignificance when compared to UK-wide electronic road tolls

I make no apologies for returning to the frightening subject of road tolls, and the Government's apparent determination to press ahead with stealing an additional £1.34 from us every time we drive one measly mile. If 134 pence per mile fails to excite you, perhaps this will: during the course of an average 10,000-mile driving year, you could end up having to find an extra £13,400 from your hard-earned, heavily taxed pay.

And just to remind you, this colossal road toll surcharge is quite separate from the £50billion per annum we already pay the State in car/fuel/road taxes, duties, levies, fines, charges, fees and tolls.

Be in no doubt, this issue is the big one. Other controversial car-related events such as seatbelt legislation, the introduction of anti-drink-drive laws, the DeLorean scandal and the death of MG Rover are insignificant compared with UK-wide electronic road tolling. In terms of the daily impact on the lives of ordinary, working class drivers trying to earn a living or get an education, no motoring story, in my lifetime at least, has ever been so significant.

The Times newspaper recently ran a front page story spelling out Britain's imminent road pricing scam in the clearest possible terms. Thanks to the paper's links with Whitehall and its daily presence in the corridors of Westminster, it was able to explain that Britain WILL be split into four pay-as-you-drive zones. Whether you're on a motorway, A-road, shopping street, naughty rat run, mountain road or country lane, you'll be forced to pay by the mile.

In red zone 'city centres' it'll be £1.34, the yellow 'inner suburbs' will cost between 14p and 86p, 'outer suburb' blue burglary is 4 to 9 pence and the damage in the remote green zone countryside is of the order of 2p.

But as someone who lives on the outskirts of London, I honestly don't know which pricing category I'll fall into. And neither, I suspect, does the Government. What, for example, is a 'city centre' (the Government's terminology), and where does it start and end? The City of London, for instance, consists of only one square mile. Does that therefore mean the remainder of the capital will fall into the next category? And of the tens of millions of suburban residents in Britain, is there a single one of us who really knows whether we live in the inner or outer suburbs?

I guess I'm quite typical: born in the capital; forced to move out to the commuter belt in pursuit of more affordable housing and better schools; now able to drive or take a train to what I'd call central London within 35 minutes.

Does that make me a blue 'outer-suburban' motorist expected to pay up to 9p every time I drive in my locality? Or will I be expected to stump up 86p as a yellow 'inner-suburban' motorist? It's surely impossible to say.

Truthfully, one half of me says that because I can see some of the skyscrapers of London from the top floor of my house, I'm unlucky enough to fall into the up-to-86p bracket. But hang on, part of my garden sits on Government-designated Green Belt land, which definitely makes me a country bumpkin who should pay no more than 2p, doesn't it? On the other hand, the street where I live is listed in some versions of the London A-Z. And come to think of it, I'm only a 10-minute drive from the M25, and if that particular road is not classed as an 86 pence inner suburban route, I'll be astonished. What a disgraceful, stinking, ill-conceived, unworkable mess Labour's proposed electronic road toll heist is proving to be.

• Email a Friend
• Print this