Insidious tracking is not the only solution...

A point people are missing: We already pay per mile!!! Remember fuel duty...

What I cannot understand is why our transport system is so poor when we pay so much in, road tax, fuel tax. There is no real alternative either, as long as it is cheaper and more convenient to use a car people will. I live in a village (pop 3000+) with a station, 7 miles from the nearest city, we have 1 train per hour that stops... That is not really offering a viable alternative to the car and the bus service runs to a calender rather than a timetable.

When will the politicians start being transparent with their taxes, etc. and stop adding to the already unreasonable burden of the car driver.

Mutley, Hull,

I still worry about care assistants. How many will be priced out of a job due to excessive road charges? You cannot use the appaling bus services we have in this country, you have a deadline to keep with clients. This is going to be very hard on the vulnerable. Very hard indeed.

And I have to say, Alex in Bristol, my sentiments exactly and I empathise with you completely. However, I do see a glimmer of hope on the horizon. I am staying on to fight.

Jennifer Hynes, Plymouth, England

Is this really necessary? Wait until there are 300 million cars in China, and petrol costs £10+ per litre. Suddenly the school run won't seem that economical any more, and congestion will solve itself. Empty roads the length of the country. The market will always find a solution in the end. Of course, the prices of houses within walking distance of necessary amenties is going to increase a bit, and I pity anyone trying to get by in rural areas when the time comes.

A Brown, London, UK

I'm selling my car and leaving the country. I've had enough of this government and their constant push for more control, less privacy, and poor and highly profitable privatised services.

This is not just another tax - it is a tax with added spying. Think of the extra implications of being tracked wherever you go. Before you say "I'm doing nothing wrong so I've got nothing to hide", ask yourself how long it will be before the things you do legally now are considered "wrong" by the government. If we don't fight now then when that day comes there will be nothing we can do about it.

However, I've had enough of fighting our extreme-right, lying, corrupt government. Last one out switch off the lights.

Alex, Bristol, UK

This is nothing compared to what is being planned next. We will be fitted with accelerometers on our chest & taxed for each breath taken, in a bid to thwart Global warming. After all its all about your carbon signature. The aim would be to prevent people breathing on Sundays & Bank holidays.

Peter Corriveau, Cambridge, UK

Disgusting!

I agree with J Brown from Swansea...
First party to promise NOT to do it get's my vote.

James, Luton, Bedfordshire, UK

Yet another stealth tax hiding behind promises of improved services. All lies by a government that wants to control our behavior and the way we go about our daily business. We are the most watched individuals in Europe, possibly the world and this is just one more infringement on our rights to privacy. No matter how many people protest this government will railroad their half-baked idea's through everyones views whether you like it or not. Who said communism was dead.

S.Black, Manchester, England

This is going to be the straw that breaks this bloated and decitful camels back. This is sinister on so many levels (privacy, freedom, equality). The Great British public will awaken and forcefully remind lying politicians who really is in charge.

Steve, Nottingham,

It is just another tax hidden under an environmental smoke screen of an excuse, nothing more nothing less.

Watch this scheme grow city by city, then road by road. A stealth tax on a nationwide scale (gradually).

If only I was an MP, I could cover my mileage on expenses.

1.8 million signatures counted for nothing.

aeshna juncea, wigan, lancs

this will surely be the labour party's "poll tax". Why local authorities would compete to be the first to introduce what will be a massively unpopular scheme is beyond me. crazy !

Richard, Walsall,

The Goverment needs to build better roads, there's lots more cars and therefore lots more cash, so funding new roads, by-passes etc should be simple. This is not the case with most road works taking ages to complete, there never seems to be much workers at road works, this is the problem!!!
There are environmentally friendly cars, such as hybrids. The government should make laws that force car companies to make all new all cars used for normal road use hybrids. Instead we have car companies braggin about how many BHP there cars have on adverts!!
Lastly there are way too many people who shouldnt be driving:

1.People who dont do the speed limit when the road is clear.

2.Over cautious drivers.

3.People who when at traffic lights, wait until the car infront has pulled right off before even starting to pull off(this is why about 10 cars or less ever make it through the lights in heavy traffic.)

We always see adverts about drink drivers, what about slow, half asleep drivers?

Lee, Wolverhampton, UK

So instead of improving public transport and providing real alternatives the only answer the politicians have is to tax the car driver again. I'm sorry Barry but if you believe the proceeds will be spent on public transport then you are living in cloud cookoo land. I know for a fact that the road fines in one local authority are not spent on improving the roads but in providing new office equipment and bailing out failing areas of the council. If this happens now whats stopping them doing it with even more money. The real answer is to provide real public transport that is accesible to everyone .

Jack, London,

I presume you are a cyclist or public transport user Barry. Many of us do not have the luxury of being able to use public transport to get to work and therefore we would be financially at a loss if this hairbrain scheme is to be introduced, flying in the face of overwhelming public opposition.

JP, London, UK

if it really is such a no brainer then the Government should include it in its next manifesto

alastair harris, Derby, UK

How else can you run a pay-per-mile pricing system without tracking vehicles and their owners?

When a vehicle doesn't pay, how do you enforce it? You contact the owner and you make them pay.

We already pay for each mile driven, and you even get a discount for driving a ecologically friendly vehicle, it's called fuel duty.

When Manchester or Birmingham goes pay-per-mile, will fuel duty be scrapped on each petrol pump inside the pricing area? I very much doubt it

Ewan, Manchester, UK

People objected to an already heavily taxed area of their lives being taxed further and secondly the idea of a spy in the sky.

The first party to promise they will not introduce this crazy measure gets my vote!

J Brown, swansea,

Cars spend most of thier lives parked somewhere. If that is offstreet it is causing no congestion. If it is on street there is a potential for congestion 24/7. Why not make onstreet parking in suburban streets so expensive that people will choose not to have so many cars per family. In particular, 'residents only parking' should be charged at a level to reduce its use.

If people owned fewer cars there would be less chance of having road congestion when the vehciles are being driven, and no need to set up expensive ways of charging moving vehicles. It is much easier and cheaper to charge a vehicle that is stationary on a public road than one that is moving.

Frank, Winchester,

I am intrigued by claims by road charging supporters that it is not necessary to track the vehicle for the pricing scheme to work. Can you please enlighten me how. If the movement of the vehicle is not tracked and plotted every inch of the way, how do you know how far I have travelled?

Set up toll booths every 100 meters perhaps? Then hit us with congestion charge for the congestion we "caused".

Lewis Tsao, London, UK

This is rewarding the councils for creating the traffic jams by allowing small houses to be replaced with blocks of flats without providing additional infrastructure to cope with the increased population, the worse they treat their local residents by allowing the overcrowding the more the government gives them!

Andy, Reading, Berks

All of the technology mentioned above has already been proven by TfL and is working in the London West End congestion Zone now.

What is really under discussion here is what is actually needed in each geographical area to address the real or perceived congestion issues, how much private/business motorists can be charged and the overall pricing/timing/penalty regime.

For congestion charging to work, a council needs to determine what they want to do: raise money, reduce car use, reduce journey times, reduce pollution or encourage different working habits etc.

Of course if each council were to promise that 100% of the funds 'raised' would be spent on actually improving transport - and creating a local joined-up transport policy then motorists can make a reasoned judgement.

If the councils are not 'open' with the motorists in their areas, they may find themselves voted out of office at the next opportunity.

Motorists may not appreciate having their vehicle movements tracked either.

Jason Scrutton, London,

A start, but much greater urgency is needed and many more cities should be on the list. That infamous petition was an enormous red herring. People objected to being tracked, but that's not a firm requirement for a pricing scheme, and there was no opportunity to say "ok if the proceeds go into public transport and not to the government," which, sensibly, is what is being proposed here. Sensibly, because public transport users are helping to ease traffic congestion by travelling many to a vehicle (buses) or off the road altogether (trains).

Barry, Wallington, UK

I was living in Edinburgh when they had the public consultation on road pricing when it got voted down 3-1. And guess what? I am living in Manchester now, and if there is a vote again, I am going to bet they will be getting a bloody nose again!

Alvin, Manchester,