The BBC reported last week that the new session of Parliament is likely to include a Bill which would enable road use charging (RUC) as a means of reducing congestion (and no doubt, saving the planet).
Gorse Fox has been giving this some thought. Firstly, he should explain that the RUC is based on the premise that you should pay per mile driven, and pay more if you drive at busy times, or on the busiest roads. This, of course, assumes that you drive for the sheer pleasure of it, and therefore can pick and choose when you take to the wheel. Now, assuming Gordon Brown has left pensioners sufficient funds to have a car, this might be true... but for the rest, Gorse Fox humbly suggests that using their car is not a matter of choice, but rather necessity.
What would be the impact of RUC?
- Company car drivers would be given a greater allowance to cover it.
- The cost would be passed on to the consumer of goods or services of the company.
- Private car drivers would just be taxed more heavily or have to change their working hours (remember English workers in the Private Sector already work longer hours than most Europeans). Let's examine this one:
- Say, it will cost £1.00 per mile and Arthur travels 60 miles to work near London. (Remember, he can't live any closer, because house prices do not allow it... and cannot use the train, because the new development -where Arthur lives- that the Government has forced on the rural community is not on any train lines). So a journey to and from work could cost him £120 if he travels in peak hours, on main roads.
- Peak hours are 07:00-10:00 and 16:30-18:30 (assumption)
- He already has to leave home at 07:00 to have any chance of arriving at work by 09:00.
- To avoid giving away his wages to this cretinous government he can either leave home earlier still, and arrive before 07:00 (so leave at 05:30, say) and then either leave work early (if that's allowed) or late. Knowing the way most business is back-loaded in the day, GF suggests he will leave after 18:30.
- In the work place we frequently hear the concept "work-life balance" - forget it. That just went to the government as they added 3 hours to your working day, or took any disposable income you had to spend just because you wished to spend some time with your family.
- Companies would either have to adapt to allow different working hours, or people would lose their jobs
- People would have to move homes, or move jobs
- Freight costs would escalate, unless freight can be delivered at night... which means keeping the workplace open to receive overnight deliveries. This adds to the overheads and will need to be passed on to the consumer.
- Government Ministers would still get to swan around in their cars, at the taxpayer's expense.
- And because we DON'T sit in traffic jams for fun, but because we have to conduct business to pay for the MPs salaries, cancer drugs from Scots, free home care for Scots, free prescriptions for the Welsh, and free University entrance for Scots in Scottish Universities, and the pensions black hole in the public sector, it will make NO difference to congestion.
Has the Gorse Fox missed anything?
Update: Of course he has. He has forgotten about the infringement of your liberty, as the government tracks every movement of your car. Where it's been, when it's been there, how fast you were travelling...
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