if the goverment want to bring this new scheme in then let them.... its down to the public to just say NO!!!!!!!!!!!! I for one will refuse to pay it regardless of the consiquences... Theres no way i am going to pay it.

We pay enough as it is, it just a blatant advert of the goverments greed. they already charge us vat on fuel, thats a tax on tax as far as i see it, as most of what we pay on fuel is tax... are we all mad???

Lets stand up to the goverment and just tell them that we wont have it, il go and knock on number 10 and do it.....

I run a small cleaning company and if this is brought in i wont be able to trade as customers will not front the extra money for me to travel to theyre jobs....

My tax bill was 14000 last year, the goverment can kiss goodbye to any more if this scheme is brought in because i will simply just pack in and go on the doll, ooops i probably wont get anything as im not a minority or an asylum seeker. Guess its a cardbourd box for me then........

Paul Inglis, Bracknell, Berkshire

i strongly disagree with this pay per mile scheme, i have to travel 20 miles to work and then 20 miles home, because i couldnt find a job closer to home, and as the pay isnt very good, i would be working just to pay for my travel. This scheme is just another way for the government to take more money away from us, again targeting the working man, soon this country will be divided between the rich and poor.

Chris, Derbyshire, UK

Just a thought, Why are buses so big?

If the bus was smaller, more buses could mean better public transport, perhaps.

I agree the larger bus, should be used for peak times, but not all day.

I saw this in Barbados, lots of smaller buses, carrying up to 14 people at a time. We waited for less than a minute before one turned up...less than a minute was normal waiting time, .we didn’t have to plan our time to the bus timetable,

My conclusion, smaller buses = more buses = better public transport...maybe!!!!

christopher, Essex, UK

its been said before and will no doubt be said again, this country is falling apart at the seams, i still have to pinch myself to believe what i am reading, and for what!, i still fail to see what this will achieve.

Democracy?, only when its convenient eh mr blair/brown/ladyman/envioromentalists?

Richard Grinham, Tamworth, UK

Clearly a tax on driving , again. How will this help people in rural areas where there simply isn't any congeston and non existant public transport. I bet there will a shift in property prices around the edge of these areas.

Phil Smith, haverfordwest,

I thought they were there to serve us??
What planet am I on?
Actually I wish I was on another planet, anything to get away from the despair of living in this country.
They won't be happy until they have all the working classes money and we are all back on donkeys then they and the rich can have the roads for themselves.
Perhaps we all should protest before its too late?

G Chatwin, Worcester, Robbing UK

I naively thought that government worked on behalf of the people, not the other way round.

Richard Aylward, Thame, Oxfordshire

At last it is clear, this is just another motoring tax.

“It wouldn’t pay you to come off busy roads on to quiet roads because you would still be in the same zone.”

So much for the conjestion tax !

Dan Casey, salisbury, wilts

This present Labour government is making me feel more and more alienated in MY OWN COUNTRY. I too am seriously considering living abroad. Lower taxes, less bureaucracy, greater democracy, cheaper food fuel housing, and to cap it all, better weather.
10 years ago i would not have even considered this but what do we have to look forward to in ENGLAND. (YES, even Great Britain is in the process of being disbanded). We can look forward to up to 40% tax on what we earn. plus extreme taxes on everything we buy, tax on savings and then the buggers tax you 40% for dieing.
I just feel like giving up. 3 close friends have emigrated in the last 2 years. When i visit them, i just cannot believe how far my money goes.
Mr Blare will not care if i go; it will just make room for more Eastern Europeans. I am certainly not against immigration if it is controlled in the same way as Australia does.
Anybody out there feel the same as me.

Ernest Ormes, TAUNTON, uk

Road Pricing it seems will affect rural road users most.

I live in rural Perthshire and a 4X4 is essential (really it is) - I pay more vehicle tax, use more petrol and therefore pay more tax, cross the Forth Road bridge and Tay Bridge occasionally - the last two toll bridges in Scotland and now may have to pay for every mile driven. Driving my 4X4 across the Forth Road Bridge will have me taxed four times for the same activity excluding purchase tax and VAT on servicing / wear & tear items.

Can't afford to stay in town, can't afford to stay out of town!

Scotland and much of the UK does not experience congestion, certainly not on London's scale yet measures which might make sense there are foisted on us all. In many areas of work and law, the key to a measure's appropriateness is proportionality, I don't see any of this in the government's approach to taxation.

David , Perth / London, UK

As if road tax and fuel duty would stay at a reduced rate! How naive do the government think we are? This would of course be a convenient platform for the introduction of more specific surveillance.

This truly is the last straw as others have said.

James, Ewell, Surrey

I have to say that I am completely in agreement with all the comments submitted so far - especially those made by Jonathan Wilton and Colin Parkinson.
I am also considering leaving the country (together with a growing number of my friends and colleagues) and taking my tax pounds with me as this is indeed the last straw.
I would support charging on Motorways only - as in France - as this appears to work well, but only if we could get some believable assurance that the monies raised would go to finance road and public transport improvements. However, sadly, I believe that the cash would only go into EU or other government coffers (beware Tony Blair signing the EU constitution on March 25th) never to be seen again.
I thought we lived in a democracy.
The vast majority was against Britain going to war in Iraq. The vast majority don't want road pricing but I guess we don't matter any more.

JB, London, UK

We are of the same opinion as Colin Parkinson of Basingstoke and have been thinking about leaving this country as it is no longer of benefit for natives! Everything is a fight and expensive in this country, unless you have been "let in" from somewhere else! Tax for vehicles will go up too. Yet another burden from an untrustworthy government.

Susie , Sevenoaks ,

I'm afraid this whole scheme is about the last straw. I am sick of being taxed into oblivion by this country - there are many people who travel quite a long way to work and we cannot simply change to public transport. I would be faced with a 3 hour journey by train to get to my place of work (which is 70 miles from home), which would entail at least 3 connecting trains - all at great expense. I cannot afford to move closer to work as it is too expensive to buy there.

I'd rather leave the country than pay this tax on living.

Colin Parkinson, Basingstoke,

This looks like yet another absurdly overcomplicated mess that will benefit only the management consultants.

It will "not add to the overall tax burden on motorists in the year it was introduced". So we can expect it to add mightily in subsequent years.

D Murphy, Skipton,

So why not just charge on the M ways and use the money to make a proper road system.
It works most places in the world - why does HMG have to make things so complicated. And anyway has anyone heard of a government IT system that works and was on budget.

Dont trust them - it will be another costly blunder

robin hicks, Pezenas, FRANCE

Forget about road pricing.
PROVIDE RELIABLE, FLEXIBLE, CLEAN, SECURE PUBLIC TRANSPORT and a good majority of drivers would not use their cars.

steve, Northampton, UK

The most efficient way to tax motorists is through fuel. The more you use, the more you pay. Even criminals who don't pay tax and insurance need fuel. And fuel is anonymous.
So unless the purpose of road pricing is to direct motorists down uncongested and away from congested routes, which this sudden "Zonal" scheme demonstrably is not,
the whole fraudulent business is just one more Brownite scheme to raise the number of State Employees to regulate another of his sly taxes.
The poor should be taxed nothing except on consumption. There should be no income tax at all on anyone earning less than 12,000 pound a year.
There should be no tax concessions or "give-backs".
Just leave the money where it is, with the people who have earned it. Have a flat tax of 20% of gross income.
Lay of thousands of pointless tax inspectors.
Join the 21st Century.

Jonathan Wilton, Singapore,

Yet again the government dodges the point. WE DO NOT WANT TO BE CHARGED IN THIS WAY. If they are worried about environmental issues annoy america, if they are worried about congestion provide public transport that is reliable. Is it because there will be less smokers the chancellor is worried about having less revenue.

amanda stephen, aberdeen,

Why are you English people putting up with any kind of road tax to begin with? Aren't you taxed enough already? It seems to me that this debate is just niggling about at the edges. The real problem is the government's greed.

Alex James, San Francisco,

I'm sorry but just because they're claiming to not be aware of your exact movements anymore, just means that they're not going to report them. I ask this. how else can they monitor your transfer from zone to zone, if they can't see your exact movement over it. It is obvious that the box will retain the GPS signal that can be tracked to the metre at the whim of any person of sufficient rank. so tony's receptionist.

But really, this just isnt enough of a compromise. Yes there was a primary concern of being tracked to the metre. But that was only because it was the most flagrant breach of human rights! lets be honest, the whole idea is something out of a nightmare. I don't think a single benefit is conferred to the people. the money goes to the government to never be seen again. Public transport gets nothing. the environment is not going to change because we pay more. and i'm not going to see this money in the form of a pension am i?

so my msg to Tony and Gordon: you can just Jog ON!

David, Plymouth, Devon

How can we complain about road pricing on the basis of privacy when so many aspire to drive large expensive imported cars which they wear as a badge and expect to use and burn fuel as selfishly as possible?
Let's get back to basics.
Road tax based on road damage caused by use of the vehicle in question and the environmental cost of ownership.
Carbon taxing based on the amount of fossil carbon released.
That way no one is penalised for being in the wrong place, only the wrong vehicle!

Neil Mordecai, Braintree, UK

When politicians make these rules, exemptions seem to be the rule rather than the exception. Individuals on low incomes should be given an exemption to ALL charges and provided with an appropriate means of identification. With rising council tax, water charges, electricity and gas increases and a paltry pension increase, far below all of the above, pensioners will be further deprived of movement. When one hears the word public transport, it is very clear that politicians are so far divorced from reality, that it beggars belief that they have thought about the very people that provide their wellbeing. An utter disgrace is the only description that fits this rather inane idea when there are far more obvious solutions to hand. Transprting goods causes most congestion and yet railways are underfunded.
We have many alternative options for moving goods and yet the large vehicle proliferation continues. Surely someone in this government has a brain cell.

Archie, Plymouth, DEVON

Chicken and egg, do you raise the money for better transport first and then cut road taxes? Maybe it would be better to simply make cars more expensive to buy, why not add 50 percent VAT on new cars and ban second hand car sales? Tax incentives to encourage wind powered cars, 0 to 60 with petrol then the wind power takes over. If HGVs were cheaper I'd buy one just to jump the queues and drive over the cars infront. Who is sposed to take leadership in this? the car manufacturers or government?

wenz, York,

So you won't be spied upon with Europe's GPS system Galileo that has been looking for a non-problem to justify it's existence, but instead have zones just like in London, policed by millions of CCTV cameras. And of course, your privacy will still be protected, just as it isn't in the London CON-gestion charge. New Labour really are a bunch of idiots if they think everyone can be fooled into that one.

New Labour and their buddies in Europe are looking at solutions to track people's movements, they hate freedom that people have, so they must be tracked. Millions died fighting in WW2 for freedom - now seemingly for nothing! I know my grandparents would be turning in their graves as seeing what has become of freedom and democracy in Europe today.

Maxim.A, London,

Politicians should realise that the 1.8 million who signed the No Petition are also Voters as are the Senior Citizens who are being penalised by any increase in Council Tax [not the Government? Ha- Ha] over an above the small increments paid in pensions. It is not just the % increase it is the actual amount which hurts. Remember if it is taxed away it cannot be spent on essentials and the economy suffers and hence Gordon's Tax TAKE.

Ken, Hampshire,

Of course this is not about monitoring your movements, so how exactly will they know what zone you are travelling through?
As per the comments above , the politicians have already "forgotten" about cutting road tax and petrol duty if this proposal is brought in. They are only interested in securing the votes of the green lobby, the votes of the ordinary person in the street are just taken for granted.

R D Mchaddan, Blyth, Northumberland

£22bn Economic damage inflicted by congestion by 2025.... How much this plan will cost to be implemented and managed? How much will be the damage to business due to people not driving somewhere for shopping because of road pricing? How much prices of goods (and inflation) will grow? This plan will negatively affect any kind of activities from business during working hours to entertainment during weekends and holidays and I am sure public transports will not be better than now. Lower wages will feel it more than others… A better solution would be to support cars and cabs sharing for people going in the same directions, it will definitely decrease congestion problems, and we all would pay less. But the government will get less money... so what is the problem here? Taxes or traffic jam???

Enrico Golia, Sutton, UK

1.8 million voters have signed a petition - what will it take for the government to take notice??!!

Kerrie, Plymouth,

The best way to win support for road pricing would be for the government to commit to the total revenue being no greater than the current level with any equipment needed provided from existing road tax. Failure to honour this pledge to be met with heavy fines deducted directly from their salaries on any politician voting for, or putting any pressure on others to support indirect increases within their political lifetime.

We can but dream even knowing the reality will be a nightmare.

David Cage, Highworth, Wilts

This is the third or fourth time that the subject of road pricing has come up under this government. The first couple of times the charges were supposed to be instead of vehicle excise and fuel duty; it's curious how that concept has been dropped.
I suppose if they've at least given up on their surveillance plans we should be grateful for small mercies.

David Andrews, Basingstoke,

Tony Blair said itwas about congestion. It is obviously not. It is just a way to make motoring more expensive. Administrators in London, with its abundance of public transport should not be allowed to make rules for the rural areas. It's 3 miles to the post office, 8 miles from the railway station and little public transport. How does charging people, who have effectively no choice but to drive on country lanes and rural roads help congestion on motorways in or city centres?

Robert, Heathfield , Sussex

Simply stupid!!

Bren, Milan, Itali

Great idea to charge for every mile driven when public transport sucks. Waited 18 minutes for a Jubilee line train at Stanmore during the rush hour (8.25 am) yesterday. Big joke, run by big jokers. It is all about public finances since the demand for car use is fairly inelastic.
Do these morons have any idea what kind of time it will take to deliver children to school and then go to work in the morning on public transport? You will have to start your day at 6.30 am and the total journey time for many will exceed an hour and-a-half.
People making these laws in parliament and their unelected supporters (I don't remember voting for these lobbyists now influencing legislation) outside it have annual family incomes at least in excess of £125,000. This is the level playing field our robber politicians (of all parties) have made routine. At least one didn't have to suffer dissimulation as well under Thatcher.

Gautam Sen, Stanmore, Middlesex

OK, so if I volunteer to have a black box in my car (which I presume I will have to pay for), I get a reduction in fuel duty? How on earth would that work? Pull up at a petrol station, fill up and then pay less than if I didn't have a black box? I DON'T THINK SO.
Mr Ladyman said that the Government was CONSIDERING reducing fuel duty and road tax to compensate for road pricing and also said it would not add to the overall tax burden on motorists in the year it was introduced.
We all know costs will increase in the years before road pricing is brought in but what about the years after?
Anyway, CONSIDERING is not good enough, it should be DEFINITE.
What happened to Mr Bliar saying he would take into consideration what the public thought, when Stephen Ladyman comes out with this charging system which has not just been thought up over the last few days.
Road charging is about taxing the motorist who has no alternative but to pay, and congestion is just an excuse.

Brian, Preston, UK

Perhaps a bit more investment in the rail and canal system and the moving of heavy frieght off the roads might be a way of reducing the amount of traffic on the roads, no jobs would be lost as short route delivery would still be needed.

If I can work that one out then there is no option than to assume that the idea of charging per mile is nothing more than a new and over priced way of Whitehall pandering to the green lobby with its unrealistic zero growth plans and society powered by seaweed generators and everybody traveling by shanks pony.

Ian, Margate, UK

Stephen Ladyman seems to think that the main reason 1.8 million people put their names on the road-pricing petition was the privacy consideration. Well it wasn't. The petition was against road-pricing in any form as drivers already pay large amounts of tax when buying a new car, paying road tax and very high rates of fuel duty. Fuel duty, of course, means that the more you drive, the more you pay.
Not satisfied with all that, this greedy, money-grabbing government is using traffic congestion as another excuse to make motorists pay more.
Can someone explain how a zonal charging system would affect congestion (especially when this Ladyman chap says that all the roads in a particular zone would be charged at the same rate, regardless of how congested they were!).
Are there many people who drive around just for fun? As public transport is nowhere good enough (except perhaps in London) to be an alternative, most people will still need to drive anyway and pay more and more to do so.

Brian, Preston, UK

If you want to restrict congestion in cities and towns why not just reduce the amount of parking available? After all, why would you drive into town if there was nowhere to park once you got there? It seems to me that would be a far simpler scheme than congestion charging and a lot cheaper to set up and administer.

Peter Webster, Ottawa, Canada

If ccutting congestion was what they really wanted to do, then a start could be made by improving the road system to increase traffic flow. For example; on the motorways overtake either side; provide expressways for cars with multiple passengers.
In urban areas, phase traffic lights; remove bus lanes, allow cars to turn at traffic lights when red if the road is clear. Remove "humps" and other obstructions. Build bypasses round villages on tunk roads. On "circular" roads round towns, build under/overpasses.
This is one way to make a real difference, cut polution, and congestion. Am I dreaming!

Mike Christie, West Bridgford, England

The Government need to learn to come clean to it's Voters. This is no longer an issue about Congestion! This is a road usage charge, plain and simple. What if i'm driving out of a busy city centre when most of the traffic is heading in of a morning, or driving back in when everyone else is going home. I am in no way contributing to Congestion but i will be charged just the same. Also, i may be being paranoid, but suddenly a new road band has just been anounced. "Country" roads to be charged at 2p a mile. how big are these zones? Are they everywhere that isn't a suburb? Will Family trips become even more expensive for those of us who want to visit the Seaside, or go to a National Park, or one of the many City Centre Museums. Anyone who has attempted a trip of this sort on Public Transport will know that it's almost impossible. Goodbye Tourism! It's not Eco friendly!!! For a country that seriously relies on Tourism as an income, i think the Government are being more than slightly Obtuse!

Jon Oldham-Malcolm, Wigan, Lancashire

Isn't this just another way of taxing the poor motorist. Without cheap, reliable public transport I will have to carry on using my car. Will the road tax be abolished? I don't think so. When Margaret Thatcher was in power she said that she would abolish road tax when petrol reached £3.00 a gallon. £3.00 a gallon I wish!!! We are the only country to still have raod tax. Why when we are supposed to be part of Europe?

Carol, Kent, UK

In order to do 'joined up thinking' a minimum requirement has to be a 'joined up brain'. This lot can not even manage 'joined up government' .Therefore given their track record of anything even remotely involving computers I do not think there is much to worry about in the near future - say 10 years?

Lionel Chapman, Gloucestershire,

Any working parent who has to drop the kids off at school and then get to work every morning and vice versa every evening, knows that public transport is a non starter.

When Tony Blair has to stand in the rain for 20 minutes and then fold up the buggy and carry that and a toddler on the bus, before starting a day's work; then he can dictate to me about congestion.

Jenny Williams, Manchester,

James Smythe wrote..
' Why should people taking public transport effectively subsidise motorists who use roads free of charge?'

From which century was he resusitated? Motorists pay road tax , fuel duty and a host of other exorbitant charges just to own and use a car. Mr Smythe should count himself lucky he can find an example of public transport that's viable!

David, Ledbury,

Will the same price-per-mile be applied to motor cycles? Push-bikes? Ponies and traps? Tractors? JCBs? 'Motorway Maintenance' vehicles? Babies in perambulators? Invalid carriages? Police cars? What about towed trailers? Caravans? Buses and coaches?

How will the system know which zone I'm in if the Government isn't going "to track every driver’s movements through a satellite positioning device in each car"? If I never move out of the zone I live in - how will the system know I've used my car and on which day?

Just a couple of questions for starters....

Brian, Somerset, UK

They still don't get it! People are paying enough for driving now. This proposed system will not replace the current fuel duty and road tax. If people are expected to pay more, then good, sensibly priced public transport is the way forward. Not much chance of that where we live - rural areas are especially neglected. Surely in this day and age they can come up with a better way of cutting congestion than making people pay more. Privacy is not the only reason why people signed the petition. It's about time the Government woke up to what real people feel about issues such as this

Dave, Yeovil,

Pay-as-you-drive zones, Blah! Obfuscation! Smokescreen!
Let no-one kid themselves, road pricing is about two things, two things which are one; paying for the redundant EU Galileo satellite scheme and surveillance which would make George Orwell turn in his honoured grave. Oh, and many, many, more parasites, of course, whose votes for statism are guaranteed.
When the furore has quietened, with staunch support from the BBC, or transferred to the next totalitarian outrage in line, the spying will reveal itself again in all its naked nastiness. We'll all be conditioned by then.
Maybe they think they can get away with this one because we really do look as though we were all born yesterday.

Martin Reed, Welwyn Garden City,

This statement just proves without any possible question of doubt that this Labour Government is intent on raising more money from the motorist, its not enough that we have the most expensive petrol in the world due to Gordon Browns FUEL DUTY which is how we currently are paying for our mileage every time we fill up the tank and drive on the road, this road pricing is just another "Stealth"Tax the country has run out of money and this Government doesn't know where else to raise funds to fill its borrowings deficit. Wake up everyone and get them out.

Christina Grist, East Sussex, England

Face facts, the only practical solution to congestion is to build more roads and smooth traffic flows on the existing system. The motorist already contributes more than enough to cover the cost and there is no shortage of land; we are paying landowners large sums not to farm it under "set aside". There is also some scope for paving current railtracks for use as dedicated truck and bus routes. For the future, a major investment must be made in developing driverless personal transport systems for all; public transport will never be flexible enough to meet our needs.

Bill Parker, Birmingham, UK

I think the general public should be aware of the possible impact this plan will bring. Simply for the benefit of easing congestion, a fanacial gain by the goverment. The consequence can be severe.

people won't go out unless they have to, even to meet friend unless you can pay for it. You can't go see your sick relative everyday because you can't afford it.

social segregation, the lost of social liberties may eventually lead to changes in the culture of this society. it shall be more of a burden to low income families than the rich. Forcing the poor staying home or locally.

The repercussion on businesses, various services and society as a whole is very unsettling. A method should be sow but road pricing is not a good idea.

ian , Liverpool, UK

To stop this iniquitous move we have one realistic option. If MPs were in NO way exempt you can bet your house that they would never vote for it. How about a focused campaign specifically on MPs travel exemption rights - nothing more nothing less, no hiding behind the green issue and dubious metrics of the wider congestion issue.

Mike, Edinburgh,

I think they should privatise the roads. The companies maintaining roads would charge motorists. The companies then have an incentive to improve roads, reducing congestion. The companies would need to be regulated. But also if a company owned a road and a railway then the roads could cross-subsidize the railways, which is what everyone is asking for

Richard Welpton, Marlow, UK

I agree with you Annie, if ever there was a time to consider emigrating now is it. We are heading for a Policed state, my grandfather and his father fought for freedom and a better life in this country. What would Tony's grandfather think of what's he's doing with our freedom so dearly bought.

Paul M, Glasgow,

I hope that once we near the implementation point of this nationwide road pricing scheme, there will be a champion of the motoring "proletariat" that will lead a large majority of us to boycott any sort of road pricing.

I am sure that there are a LOT of us who would be willing to boycott any road pricing, but only if they can see that there are other people doing it. Hence the need for a champion to spread the word.

Jeremy Clarkson, where are you when we need you?

Pete, Cov,

How will road pricing work for vehicles (ie Lorries and cars) from other European countries work? They will not have the tracking system we will be forced into, so will be able to use our (UK) roads totally free of charge, whilst we subsidise them by paying.

This will be another nail in the coffin for UK based hauliers as it will once again be an unfair tax on them, making them more uncompetitive than they already are.

For car drivers, when we go across to mainland Europe, we travel through Toll Gates, where we are charged the same as any other driver.

Do we all go and buy properties in Europe, buy European cars and then drive them for free in the UK, therefore investing the money we would be taxed in the UK overseas?

Any more hare brained ideas, Tony?

Mark Cooper, Christchurc,

I think it is a drive to make everything so un-transparent that people just get on with it at the end and pay up !
Road pricing for every mile? …To protect the environment? Well if you get charged for every mile no matter where you drive why not just increase the fuel tax to the ammount that it cots around 1.5 a mile? (Oh dear that would be to unpopular – so let’s make the thing more complicated and people will just get on with it). At least that would save the cost for the box in the car and the cameras or system to track everything (or is there another Labour donor behind it - who's earning a fortune by installing and monitoring these systems). Please Government - if you just want to earn more, just say so by increasing the fuel tax as it would at least ensure that economical cars are better of – but be prepared for the consequences!

Matthias, London, UK

Like it or not, people like personal mobility and freedom. It is one of the greatest achievements of the last century. It is no surprise that demand for personal moblity has increased.

In my line of work, whenever we have trouble meeting demand, we have to invest in new machinery to increase our supply.

In that sense, the obvious solution is to increase the capacity of our road network. Although politically sensitive, we cannot allow ourselves to tax our infrastructure anymore heavily, less we find ourselves uncompetitive against our European neighbours.

This is not a case of paving over Britain, more easing congestion bottlenecks, widening and building more motorways where necessary.

Ben, Leicester,

This should be consigned to the dustbin purely on economic sense. It will result in a vast amount of tax revenue being wasted on a very expensive complicated system.
If the Govt wants to remove congestion then stop councils deliberately creating congestion at Govt behest, ref DfT Safety on Roads proposals, make better use of roads by driver education eg eliminate middle lane owners club.

Listen to the people Bliar, the TOLL TAX will be your POLL TAX!

Old Bill, Stourport,

Big brother is alive and well. Maybe we could put a camera in the car to see who's driving. At least we can now all see that this has nothing to do with road congestion, "leaving a busy road for a quiet one will cost the same".
As no doubt others will comment, the state is simply trying to erase any rights you once had. Id cards, random police stops, and fingerprint passports.
I suggest we all set up our own alternate identity as fast as we can, learn polish and sneak back in through Dover

Jim, Maidstone, Kent

Gavin from Harrogate <quote>... Fuel duty...cannot... deliver the same theoretical benefits as road charging because it cannot take account of road 'busyness'...<quote> But Gavin, this new road pricing will take no account of road business either. It sounds like the zones will be very large. So within most towns all but the most central roads will be charged the same. So this will make absolutely no difference to the pattern of road usage. It will not even create incentive to avoid rush hour since the charge will be the same throughout the day. This will not reduce congestion!
The key to making road charging work was to have a billing system that would modify behavior. For example, by making drivers avoid busy times. The system described does absolutely none of that. I am totally appalled. Its beyond my comprehension that the government could plan to have us install sophisticated tracking into every vehicle and then have such an ineffective billing system. Its just staggering! It makes no sense at all.

Mark, Bournemouth,

What is wrong with stopping building new roads and to make 1 lane available for buses and taxi's. Eventually traffic will get congested to a point that it will be very difficult to move around and people will take public transport instead, Lorry's will travel at night the same as Germany. Mum's will walk thier children to school instead of using the car. This is simple supply and demand but increasing the cost of driving will simply make it impossible for the less well of. Frankly if you are working in London getting a 6 figure salary are you going to care that much that it costs you 1 hours salary a month for the priveledge of driving?

Joseph Kellie, Edinburgh, Scotland

Read EC directive 2004/52 - you will see that it is a done deal decided by Europe and left to the poodles in Parliament to con us or brow beat us into accepting. It is massively expensive both to set up and to operate and all that money could be better used in hundreds of ways - like getting a better transport infrstructure so that we did not need to drive everywhere.

David, Broadstone, Dorset

Hasn't the government listened? We don't want this unfair tax that will drive all but the wealthy off the roads! But then Tony Blair and New Labour only ever pay lip service to the views of the people. Odd that they send our troops to die for democarcy overseas but don't want it at home.

Andy Brown, Derby, UK

Sort out public transport, ie trains that are affordable and can accommodate the passengers that wish to travel, then I'm all for this.

As it is, rail transport for most is a shambles and road pricing will merely breed resentment. I dare a Government Minister to commute by First Great Western into Bristol every day......

Alister, Maiden Bradley, Wilts

Mr ladyman and his useless roadpricing. Of course many labour MPs will support it, but lets face it they will get all or most of there transportation costs redeem via the taxpayer.
It is plainly obvious that unless public transport is very cheep and regular and easily accessible no matter were we live ,Then in the absence of such an universally useable public transport alternative, this is most obvious;ly a greedy controlling political move , designed to financially mug and tax most of us of the roads.And in doing so strangulate yet another freedom that most of us currently enjoy. If people enable yet another level of tax entranchement to be set upon us, in this way.Then they will in effect be enabling the british people to be suffocated with such controlls.
I know and respect that there are many urgent issues to be considered. But the undemocratic application of further taxes, and reduction in freedom to travel. No intelligent person will accept it!

william Thornton, Margate, United Kingdom

Perhaps the best solution is to completely change the system of transport in London by providing the public with carts similar to golf buggies. It does not need petrol, it has cover against the rain and everyone will be very safe, children can once again play on the streets without the fear of getting run over by a speeding car! Hence everyone will be equal, it will be a pretty sight seeing Gordon Brown or Ken Livingston on their way to work in the morning! As for the commercial trucks, they should only be allowed on the road during night time. And perhaps, cars will only be used during night time too!

Sheen O., London, UK

This poll tax for the roads will ensure the back of this useless government and about time too.
We are using public transport more but if I wish to use my car then I do not want some nannying government telling me I shouldn't do so.
I paid tax on the car when I purchased it. I pay a huge fuel tax and I pay road tax.
We are supposed to be one of the richest countries in the world so how come this government is always pleading poverty when the infrastructure needs improving like roads, healthservice and in particular services for care of the elderly. Perhaps this chancellor is not as good as he has cracked himself up to be. It is already looking like that and no doubt we shall find out the truth soon enough.

Noel Dobson, York, N. Yorkshire

I agree with the fact this party need voting out. There are other ways of reducing congestion than trying to tax us even more - especially as I think we pay enough road tax as it is! I for one would not be able to afford to drive-and even if I used public transport to get to work every day 6 days a week, I would still loose a huge chunk of my already accounted for wages-in turn loose my job / house in worst case scenario...Why not try to encourage more people onto motorbikes, I ride a sports bike and it is just as enjoyable as driving? This is a far more realistic way of getting the roads less clogged. If they stopped seeing pound signs every time they need something done they might not be so hated! I for one will NOT pay by the mile. it is highly unfair and will only cause problems in other areas. i.e dictating where people reside or may even influence the house market pricing. There is a bigger box than the one they are looking in - they need to start looking at the bigger picture.!! I can see this and I am only 20!!!

Becci Lloyd, Sevenoaks,Kent, United Kingdom

I took a taxi along Marylebone & Euston Roads yesterday. The congestion was very similar to how it was when I was a student in London in 1976-1980. Nothing has changed -it was no worse nor no better.
Congestion is a self-regulating phenomenon, so lets just be clear, road charging is simply another form of taxation. Period.

MarkS, Leeds,

The trouble is the tax will hit the hard working public!! What the government seem to forget is the hard working public are the one's that pay all taxes and generates all the uk's wealth .It's the same all the time they always hit the hard working public none of us want to drive at peak times !! But we have to to earn our income to pay all our tax & bills.
the thing that annoys me is no matter what we say as the voting public this pay as you drive will be on our roads no matter what we think . They spend years moving all the shop away from the local area so we have to drive cars to live then start charging us more for the privilege. Don't even get me started on tax on home inprovements once again hard working house buyer !! Try to do well in life.

white, leigh on sea, essex

Drivers are already charged by the mile for every journey they make. It's called "fuel duty"

john lazenby, neath, wales

How ever many different Road Tax Schemes [ which is what they all are. no matter what they are disguised as;] the traffic volume will never become any less until you make it cheaper and quicker to travel by rail. At the moment it is undeniably far to expensive and unreliable. Why does the rail system have to make a profit. if the government was serious about reducing traffic and it's environmental toll they would make it far more viable to travel by rail, Maybe some of the millions made by other stealth taxes that are supposed to be laughingly protecting the environment, tax on air travel to name but one, I live in mainland europe and guess what the trains work and they are spotless.

Ed Chalkley, Corsuel, France

This new tax will adversely affect retail businesses in urban areas since it will increase the cost of shopping. It will increase the price of goods also by raising the cost of transport to said outlets as well as to and from industrial complexes. England seems determined to put the rest of the world at a competitive advantage and to needlessly squander local jobs for the sake of the world's clean air. That, of course, creates a like number of industrial jobs in nations which have no clean air standards at all. There is a simple solution to traffic conjestion. Allow it to continue until all traffic is impacted. When that happens people will stop driving to congested areas and seek out alternative transportation. That is a natural process and it works without big government trying to run people's lives. When I was in London last November I used the tube exclusively and walked enough to improve my health. I didn't even consider an automobile rental.

Thomas Haughey, San Juan, Texas, U. S. A.

How would it work if you never moved from one zone to another ie. if all your travel was in one zone? Or am I missing something?
Regards
Leo

Leo, durham, england

This is being pushed ahead on false data. Even if there is an increase in cars the increase in drivers over recent years is actually very modest, highly questionable that there will be a big increase in congestion. Even if there is a big increase in congestion, govt forget human beings are rational - we will get out of our cars and take tube/train etc. The system is self regulating as people do their own cost/benefit analysis to work out the best way to travel, we dont need more "taxes" to distort the system. Even if we wanted to move to trains/buses etc. the public transport system is at capacity, where is the extra, better quality infrastructure? The whole thing is a farcical waste of money. Cant wait for labour to be chucked out of office to stop this rubbish.

Bobby, London, UK

Adding this type of taxation will not reduce the congestion in any way - the public will be willing to continue paying the extortionate prices; this has been seen through the increase in fuel prices - no matter how much duty the Government will impose, motorists will continue to pay. This is a sly attempt by the Government to increase their revenue!! If this change is meant to be "helping the environment" - then shouldn't the Government be attempting to improve the public transportation system - instead they are making consumers retreat from public transportation; this is evident from the excessive prices of a bus ride in London (£2 a ride is ridiculous - please note I am a student, and I would rather drive than take the worse public transport in Europe!!)

Pam, southampton,

This crazy scheme will be this governments Poll Tax.
I think the reason this has become such a hot issue is that people feel there is no alternative but to drive. After several governments and years of daft policies the public transpotation system is useless for lots of people, so now they're being made to pay..again. No wonder the public feels frustrated.
Better public transport, more park and rides around cities, higher fuel tax, higher road tax for large vehicles and some sort of system that encourages people to work from home (after all we can use our computers for more than reading the Times Online you know) should all be implemented before this lunacy.
Also, I have no faith that this or any future government can implement this system properly - just wait until some Grandmother who's never even owned a car gets a monthly bill of £500!!

Mark, Cleveland, OH, USA

How archaic to have the need to track the general population. We are being subjected to a police state. I thought Russia was disbanded into separate states but the UK has joined the system. Road pricing is another new way to tax us under an increasing control by big brother!!!

M Mays, Hurstbourne Tarrant, Hampshire

Hope the conservative will take note of this to win easily next election. This is a no sense law.

Max Fortis, Nottingham, Italy

First of all, let's make a concerted effort to make the 2 million road tax/insurance dodgers pay up. Spot checks would be much more acceptable to drivers if they knew what they were for. This would also reduce the amount law-abiding motorists have to pay. Second, lets have some accountability - the government should be able to demonstrate where they have spent all the road tax revenues - it should be exclusively transport related projects. Third, let's also see where the ever increasing revenues from speed camera fines are being spent. If it were exclusively being spent on additional speed camers as we are led to believe, there would be cameras every 10 miles on every road throughout the country by now. These revenues should also be spent directly on transport improvement schemes - not to enable Gordon Brown to balance his tax revenues.
Presently the law-abiding motorist is paying through the nose whilst those who are prepared to break the law are not punished severlely enough.

Jonathan, Felixstowe, Suffolk

The labour Government have always taken money off the poor to give to the rich.They can't help it,they want to see everybody poor,and they know that they will never beat the rich so they join them and get their snouts in the trough worse than any other political party.Road mileage charging is another way of taking money off the population.It will not hurt them and their croneys,they will vote themselves more expenses,and there is nothing you can do about it.I have realised this for 47 years. What sort of person votes Labour??? Regards

Eddie Ward, Llandrindod Wells, Wales.

At least it's now obvious that this is a tax raising exercise and nothing to do with congestion control. I reckon that the Government that introduces this is committing electoral suicide, so here's hoping that New Labour keep up the good work....

Jerry, Oxford,

Well we get charged for everything else to do with motoring,next the Government will charge us for walking on pavements!!!!!!

neil, swindon, uk

This is simply a new means of gaining extra revenue. If the problem is traffic congestion, convince drivers to get a bus or a train by reducing fares, spend more on public transport and tighten traffic control. People are still going to use their cars if they have no cheaper alternative.
What is so suspect about the scheme is there is no hint of penalising "congestion creators" because it will be by zones not by particular roads or traffic customs. Someone who lives out in the country far from services is going to receive the same sanctioning treatment as the one who takes the car to go to the newsagent rather than walk!

joe, st albans, uk

Gavin, Fuel duty does encourage use of less congested roads as the rate of consumption increases when trapped in congestion.

Exactly how does zone charging not involve tracking if the charge is to be by the mile in each zone you must be tracked for your mileage to be calculated.

At least it seems the charge is not to ease congestion.

Peter, Nottingham,

This is stealth tax. Nothing more, nothing less. The government's track record of telling the truth in these and other matters does not stand up to passing enquiry, let alone serious cross examination (which I note the UKs televised media seem increasingly unable or unwilling to do).
Accept for a moment that 'traffic is the problem' (living in the Scottish Borders renders this opinion somewhat challengeable), if this is the case, then where are the improvements in public tranport promised for so many years. What is the alternative to one's car when living in rural Britian, and a good deal of urban Britian, come to that. Years of an increasingly outrageous tax burden on the so-called middle classes have increased the size of the government, and that is all. So much for carrot and stick. Stick only for UK dwellers, I'm afraid. Unless your part of the union....

Tony Kirkby, Coldingham, Berwickshire

As so much of the traffic congestion is caused by people making short journeys, many of less than 2 miles there must be some mileage in considering a parking tax to disuade people from making trips that could be easily walked or cycled. This tax could be levied on all businesses and retailers so would also give an insentive to minimise the amount of space being alloted to car parking. Longer trips can still be effectively discouraged and controlled by fuel taxes, the level of which is largely determined by the motorists choice of vehicle.

Clive Stringer, Eggesford, Devon

Higher Vehicle Tax, most expensive fuel in Europe, a lousy public transport system. The buses in North Devon, capable of carrying 30, 40 plus passengers only carry a handful. And they are DIESEL. For starters why not bring in buses with electric motors - you know just how bad the fumes are being stuck behind one. Improve all forms of public transport, for starters - what about monorail in very heavily conjested areas, or reintroduce trams in all large cities, as Nottingham has done. Why hit the poor motorist who uses his/her vehicle for pleasure!!! And some pleasure!!! Car Tax + Petrol Duty = horrendous road surfaces in this area. We have seen NO improvement in public service in the Barnstaple/Bideford area, unless you say the £m's spent on the new Western Bypass, which will improve the conjestion in Barnstaple - NOT!! Put the railway line back in between Torrington, Bideford and Barnstaple. Then thousand of holiday makers can travel by train instead of choking our roads.

Brian, Bideford, Devon, England

And this applies to Scotland as well does it?

mike, Midlands, UK

Why Oh why are all these complicated schemes going through the mill.
Put tax on fuel and drop road tax and have done with it. ie
The more you drive the more you pay.
The less efficient your engine the more you pay.
Costs zero to collect.
No one can avoid paying.
Alternatively – build a sophisticated satellite system
Get it launched into orbit
Install a tracking system into every vehicle in the country
Set up a huge computer tracking/pricing system
Set up a huge bureaucracy to police the whole affair.
They can’t be serious – can they??

Paul Whitehead, Chorley, UK

How about the road tax that motorists already pay this criminal and bankrupt government.There should be a body set up to thoroughly investigate just what the road tax is spent on.Motorists should refuse to purchase a tax disc until this government can prove that the money collected is spent on our poor road system.This government and the motorist need a loud wake up call.The council tax falls into the same category.
submitted by Peter Fossey Farrington Gurney Bristol.

peter fossey, farrington gurney bristol, uk somerset

If they want to charge by the mile they need to know how far you've driven. To find out how far you've driven they need to know where you've been..... how does this zone system obviate the need to know where you've been? And how does it stop people avoiding the expensive zones? This is all total nonsense. All travellers will be worse off - those priced off the road will be forced onto public transport where they will be worse off (if they weren't worse off they would be on public transport already), those on the road will be paying for the privilege, and those who were on public transport before will now find it more crowded than before. Who is this policy supposed to benefit?

Will, London,

Sorry guys..I think that is mainly about complete and utter selfishness that is creating a diminishing quality of life in England.
I only drove here for about a year, until I noticed how rude and inconsiderate the average driver is their fellow drivers.
I no longer drive.
Many private cars only contain one person and a lot of people hop into a car without thinking, just to make a trip of two otr three blocks.
U.K. roads are not designed for the current volume of traffic.

Exhaust and the constant vibration of vehicles is damaging our streets, buildings and the lungs of us all, especially our children.
(More children are killed annually by lung problems and car crashes than they are by paedophiles or walking to school!)

Since we refuse to regulate ourselves, or share our vehicles, the Government has stepped in. What are the choices as our roads become almost static parking lots?

Pat van der Veer, Wallasey, Merseyside, England

This still doesn't address the environmental impact of the car itself, with the congestion/road charging the box will not differentiate between the V8 TVR and the Nissan Micra sat on the same piece of road.

Will this new Zone system charge by the amount of time you are in a zone or by miles? I assume it'll be the latter because you need to have accurate placement (GPS) to measure the former.

For rural villages in the motorway zone is the farmer going to be charged more just because he lives in the area?

It has been said a million times to put the cost on fuel tax, it costs no extra in admin and taxes people by the mile and will differentiate between gass guzzlers and eco cars. I drive the former (V6 MR2), although only occasionally as I walk to work most days and can still see it's the way forward, am I missing something or is our government that blind/stupid?

It will also be interesting to see what kind of computer system will be required to keep tabs on 33m vehicles.

Chris Worrall, Gosport,

The British are so well conditioned to pay for whatever new scheme the government comes up with to raise money. Why doesn't the goverment just have negative income tax? That way they could just give you the bare minimum to live on and keep the rest. I think that is what it is going to happen in the future at the way things are going. Sorry, I hope I didn't give them any new idea.

Ronald Bromley, San Marcos, CA USA

Of course Sinead you are quite right! This is a stealth tax to end all stealth taxes thought up by the Pink Conservatives without due consideration of the consequences! It will also create a two tier society and will, I hope, be resisted as stoutly as was the infamous Poll tax. It is an indictment of this Government's profligate, ill-conceived and flagrant waste of the money that they have already raised through deception.
As for opposition parties I would recommend the formation of an entirely new party that has the electorate's will at heart and one that will re-establish the true democratic ideals that have so sadly been eroded by a government of inadequates and incompetents!
School buses such as those in the States would solve most of the congestion at peak time. If they truly had the environment at heart engine sizes would be severely restricted by legislation, thereby making also huge savings
not just in carbon emissions but in oil consumption! That of course would not be acceptable to the Oil Majors or the insane petrol heads. What on earth is the advantage in having a gas guzzler in a traffic jam or within a 70mph speed limit.
If they persist I will for one take up a whole lane on any road with my bicycle. And I would urge all those who protested to join me!

Nick Proctor, Truro, UK

The concept of general road pricing is alien to the British mentality, and any version of the scheme is likely to arouse hostily - and cost Labour many votes. Motorists do recognise the problems of congestion, but need a better, and less costly, solution. Is there a case for road licensing, whereby drivers can only use their cars on, say, four of the five weekdays, with one weekday prohibited? Exceptions may need to be made for special categories of driver, and for special occupations, but the mass of ordinary drivers would be prevented from driving on most of, or all of one weekday. This should cut road use by 15%, so resolving many of the immediate problems. If congestion builds up again, a second weekday may need to be prohibited. A gradualist approach makes more sense and is less politically objectionable.

David Barker, Hitchin, Herts, UK

And where is the logic in taxing foriegn lorries to make them less competative the UK lorries because in the EU the diesel is cheaper?
It's same old labour, if there is a problem tax it.
Here is a thought, make UK Diesel even cheaper than EU diesel. Our lorries could flood europe and bring back lots of loot for Moron Brown to tax.
And is it fair that a bus with 1 person in is taxed less than a person sat in a directionally efficient car. That 1 person may have to take 3 buses and 1 hour of travel with all the associated pollution old buses produce to do a journey of 20minutes by car. The tax can then be called efficiency tax!

Phil, Manchester,

Congestion is primarily caused by road design and not simply traffic volume.In the village where I live,the local council have been giving us a makeover.Prior to this grand scheme of theirs, we did not have any particular problems with traffic congestion,but as a result of the makeover we now have narrower roads and bus stops sited opposite each other resulting in......you've guessed it,traffic congestion throughout the day,where none existed before.When you drive into the local town there are now bus lanes,cycle lanes and narrower roads so again we have congestion where it did not exist before.We need to look at the overall design of our transport system including public transport before introducing the sort of complicated and expensive satellite system that this government is so enamoured with.They just don't get it.

Josh, Oxford, Uk

What effect would having a black box in every vehicle and charging according to zones, whether urban or rural, have on house prices at zone perimeters? Might we find it cheaper to park in the next street and walk the last few metres if we happened to live on the zone border?

J Hailwood, Fareham, UK

I thought the concept of road pricing was to be introduced in order to cut congestion. Surely, the govwernment minister has accepted that this isnot the case by stating that the price would not vary within zones regardless of wheter you are driving oon a more or less congested road.

Keith, Leeds,

Is this road pricing a replacement for petrol tax? Or maybe the government plans to scrap the road fund licence? No? In that case, it seems to me that wrapped up in a diversionary tactic of save-the-planet-and-cut-down-overcrowding-on-the-roads our government have discovered a new way of taxing everyone. OK, so maybe they've thought it through so that at least we won't see droves of cars leaving high priced motorways and zooming through "deserted" villages... I'd cheerfully use public transport to get to work, if it took significantly less than the present hour for a five minute journey by car! Not that I'm always cynical!

Ian Gooding, Milton Keynes, UK

"Britain will be divided into a patchwork of road-pricing zones where drivers will be charged varying rates, under a government plan to make them pay by the mile without tracking them on every road."

I may have missed something here but how can a motorist be charged by the mile without being tracked on every road? If one mile (or ten) is travelled without crossing boundaries, is a free? Or would a car be charged for being in a zone regardless of whether or not it moved?

For once I am in agreement with Tony "Before we take any decisions about a national pricing scheme, we know that we have to have a system that works" (from his otherwise pointless email of 21 February 2007). This is not the one, back to the drawing board.

Chris Lawrence, Huntingdon, UK

... another way of penalising the less well off!!!!

jim, Leeds,

Ian, indeed Galileo is the reason for this. Or rather, EU-wide road pricing is the reason for Galileo. The American GPS system is a passive one, whereby the user receives signals from the satellite system but sends nothing back the other way. Galileo is designed to be an active system that monitors and records the location of any device connecting to it.

No doubt the chips that will be implanted in our heads in the next decade or so will also be connected to Galileo...

Keith, Merseyside, UK

I find it simply outrageous that the Govt. can even begin to justify such taxes, i mean road pricing. If they are isnsitant on introducing the scheme then road tax license fees and tax on fuel should be abolished.

What was the point of the petition against the scheme if the Govt had already made up their minds that they were going ahead with it regardless. So many drivers in the UK are against the scheme - if we all boycotted it when introduced the Govt would have to listen then.

Conway, Herts,

Just say no we are not going to be dictated to anymore. What is the matter with you people??? enough is now enough.

Derek James, Birmingham, West Midlands

Time to leave the country and turn out the lights!

Annie N, Salisbury, UK

This is probably just a clever plan to get us to accept huge rises in fuel tax without complaining. As it seems the only logical, low tech, effective way of reducing unnecessary car use. Any other method will cost billions to implement and infringe on our privacy.

peter , london, uk

I have just come back to my home in the suburbs of Sheffield from the city centre by bus. I left the centre at about 4.00 pm. The road to my home was so congested that it would have been quicker to walk. I did not walk as I had a lot of heavy shopping. It is like this every day at peak times, and not much better at other times. On Saturdays at this time it is worse. Most of the cars, an astonishing number of which are huge 4x4s, carry only one person. Cars are allowed to park in the bus lanes for most of the day, so the buses just get stuck among all the cars. It is madness.

Patricia Brutus, Sheffield, UK

Last one out of the UK please turn the lights out....

Is it any wonder parents are telling their kids to get an education and get out of this country before, like many of us, it is too late.

When I say that this government scares the hell out of me, I mean every word - Orwell may have got the year wrong, but he wasn't that far out!

Tony, Solihull,

Put the tax on fuel! The more you use the more you pay ! What can be fairer than that ? If your car, company vans or lorries are out and about adding to the emissions ( which this is all about ? ) shouldn't they pay for it ?

Malcolm Geall, Barnstaple, Devon,

I can't believe I'm reading this. Does this Government believe that good, honest, hardworking people drive around this country just for fun? I have NO alternative means of transport. The train station has been closed and the line is overgrown. The bus leaves after I start work and leaves before I finish. I'd love to have a job locally but farming is collapsing what else can you do but travel to work. I'm taxed on what I earn, I pay Council Taxes, I have to pay for the water that I drink even though the "Water" company now pumps so much out from under our village and into big towns that we were under threat of stand pipes. We are not allowed to use the three hundred year old well in our garden without a license. I work so hard yet everyday I wake up to some new scheme, bill or tax which just fills me with despair. If the Govt really wanted to earn some revenue from tax they should try taxing despair, I'm sure the thousands of us that despair with this gov't would earn them billions.

Tony, Compton, Berkshire

What provision is being made for the handicapped, who often rely on motorcars in urban areas? I am now faced with this when I come to London, where I once lived. Continental cities are becoming more understanding and supportive of the handicapped. Where is England?

Catharine Taylor, Cambridge, MA, USA

If we had a more joined up public transport system with the addition of a much increased allocation of parking spaces at certain key railway and bus stations, it would be a lot easier to travel less by car. As things stand we are not encouraged to change . Introducing road pricing would just allow the rich to carry on using their cars at will and the poor being discriminated against. In some cases with child care so expensive and road pricing increasing travelling costs, it would be cheaper for some to stay at home rather than work.

AMC, Oxford, England

You can allocate scare resources using a queue, a market, or a ration. All have problems as far as cars are concerned. In particular the "tax them off the roads" stategy weighs very heavily on, say, the unskilled casual worker who needs to get to the factory at short notice.
A better bet is a simple ban. Ban all private cars in London. Then the bus network woiuld improve to the point that a bus would always be in sight on every route, and journey times for everyone would fall.

Malcolm McLean, Bradford, UK

Madness. The 'tracking' version that none of us want at least had the benefit of pricing congested roads higher than non-congested ones.

This new scheme will obviously do nothing to ease congestion if all roads in the zone are the same price.

And if that's the case, what is the point of saying that this new tax is to ease congestion ?

Is this governement completely backwards ?

Chris, Beckenham, UK

How is road pricing going to reduce congestion if all roads in a zone are to be charged at the same rate, whether they are congested or not?

The London CC only applies at certain times during the working week. Is this national charge going to be charged 24/7? Even inner city streets tend to be congestion free during the early hours of the morning. Where is the incentive to stager journeys to help reduce congestion if the charge is the same?

How will the charging system know that a vehicle has started or finished a journey unless there is some form of tracking? If tracking only starts when a vehicle crosses between different charging zones what if the vehicle remains in one charging zone for the whole journey?

This sounds like a ill thoughtout way of trying to make road pricing acceptable to the public. It is unworkable.

Frank, Winchester, UK

Why should people have to pay anything? What exactly will the fees be spent on, apart from paying for the (inevitably inefficient) NGO that adminsters it or some other money-spinner for the Exchequer?

The beast that is UK Government Inc. simply knows no bounds...

Bruce Haig, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

This seems like a knee jerk reaction by the governement, as it does not address the key issues and tends to contradict itself in many area's
ie
'Zone 1, the area just outside it would be Zone 2, further out in the suburbs would be Zone 3 and rural areas would be Zone 4. ' & “As you got closer to London, the zone price would increase. But if you pulled off the motorway at any point you would still be in the same zone, so there would be no point in cutting through a rural village.” .
If I am not mistaken we currently pay 60% in taxes on every litre of fuel sold - there a taxation that not only applies for your mileage but also on the efficiency of the car - lets sort out the public transport system to a level where it actually delivers a service to the majority of the people then review whether a road zone tax is still applicable - and stop hiding stealth taxes under greener inititiaves.

Carl, Solihull,

Interesting to note that these charges are to be in addition to the Road fund Licence and fuel duty. And how is tracking my movement through zones any less and invasion of my privacy? Why does everything this government propose include a notion to "track" my movements ?
This bunch of closet stalinists need putting back in their cupboards.

Justabloke, Leighton Buzzard,

I don't mind paying for my use of a car, as long as no one is tracking my whereabouts. With increased car ownership per family, most of us accept there are now too many cars on the road. But we are reluctant to pay for the damage that cars cause, whether that is keeping roads in sufficiently good repair, or in paying additional taxes to repair the effects on the environment. Our road system can only bear a certain number of cars - we're already overloaded and due to increase the number of cars by a further 25% in the next eight years. Roadbuliding is not keeping pace with the increase in car numbers. So I'd be interested to know what is the optimum "population" of cars for UK roads. In my view, the amount by which the total population of cars exceeds the optimum should determine how much we pay, the greater the excess of cars, the more we pay. But just don't try to track my movements.

Garry, Dunmow, Essex

The government is trying to counter the "spy" argument and hinting at reduced fuel tax, yet still the motorists grumble. Apparently the truism "time is money" doesn't apply here - they'd rather sit in traffic jams than pay for a quicker run. Well, I'm not worried about that, but I do object to my bus being delayed in those jams and the company having to charge higher fares because of the extra buses it needs to compensate. Why should drivers care? Well, don't any of them have children or elderly or disabled relatives who rely on the bus? Has it never occurred to them that each busload of people is keeping 20, 30 or 40 cars from adding to the traffic? Motorists could halve the cost per person by taking someone with them. If they don't, it's an extravagant use of road space, charging for which is fair provided the proceeds go to improve bus and other non-car travel.

Barry, Wallington, UK

You can bet the residents/drivers in the 10 pilot areas will still have to pay the full whack of car tax, fuel duty etc. while they have the privilege of testing the system and paying the road pricing charge.

Once the pilot studies are complete I also bet they will be hailed as a complete success and there will be an announcement that the new system will roll-out nationwide.

Ken Livingstone promised the Congestion Charge data wouldn't be stored, but he never said it wouldn't be passed to other government agencies/departments. The fact that this new charge will be calculated on zones doesn't mean the technology won't track exactly where you are at any given point in time - or that this data won't be passed on. There are no guarantees and I doubt the government will give any. They'll probably just wheel out the War Against Terror excuse again.

During the Cold War we used to joke about the surveillance behind the Iron Curtain. The irony is that it's worse for us now.

C. Williams, Peterborough,

Fuel duty or "tax the petrol you use" as at least one poster has suggested cannot, unfortunately, deliver the same theoretical benefits as road charging because it cannot take account of road 'busyness' . Fuel duty does not incentivise us to use roads which are less busy - or to travel at off-peak times thus spreading the load on the existing road infrastructure.

Gavin, Harrogate, UK

So smokings bad for you! We are paying millions of pounds a year for people to quit! Who pays for this ? Hell let's hit the motorist who needs to drive and will have to pay it anyway!

Malcolm Geall, Barnstaple, Devon,

Interesting. So Mr Ladyman is going to develope a per mile pricing system that does not need any information on the start or finish of the journey!

Dave Burns, London, England

If we are not to be individually tracked on a pay per mile basis how is this scheme going to work? We will still need to be tracked entering and leaving differing zones so big brother is still watching.
Presumably we'll also need another government quango to administer the scheme and collect the cash; and at what cost?
If it is like the governments record on any of its IT systems implementation then we are in for a rocky ride!

Brian, Rugby,

This is ridiculous! It's just another way of squeezing money out of us. If they want to charge people for using the roads, there can be no simpler way than to increase fuel tax. But why don't they first explain what they are doing with the billions they already collect in fuel taxes?

Richard M, Guildford, Surrey

Matt from London...spot on, again here it's reported that Stephen Ladyman has said that road pricing would

"...not add to the overall tax burden on motorists in the year it was introduced."

Then exactly why spend the money on introducing a new taxation structure???

Anthony, Bedfordshire,

Will the proposed road pricing scheme replace road tax - or is this a further levy on motorists - in addition to the massive imbalance we pay on fuel duty compared to other European coutries? It seems under labour we will soon be taxed for using the pavements or breathing!

peter francis, Surbiton,

Time to vote this lot out, we have had consumer power with the banks, now is the time for "New Labour". I seem to be paying more and more taxes for what? nothing. Consumer power needs to exert its influence on this shower and vote them out.

Jim Keenan, Aberdeen,

As most congestion takes place around the rush hour why should anyone who avoids driving during these periods have to pay a congestion charge? Surely a time allocation as to when these congestion charges will be applied would be a fairer system spreading out the number of vehicles on the roads at any one time. The inequality of the proposed system penalises the lower paid who use a modest car to travel to work will pay the same charge as someone who has a more luxurious car and can more easily afford to pay.

Allan Donaldson, Addlestone, Surrey

We need policies that enable people to live closer to where they work. Only then will they drive less. The main driver of congestion is house prices forcing people to live further and further out of town. Rising house prices are seen as a success but the only people who benefit are estate agents and banks. And, of course, the government who take stamp duty, inheritance tax and force you to sell your home to pay for care when you're old.

If we want to reduce congestion build hundreds of thousands more homes in the cities, stop net immigration and invest huge sums in public transport. Introduce a wealth tax on second homes and buy-to-lets to free up housing stock and reduce travel. Encourage freight onto rail and waterways. If foreign lorries have an advantage by buying cheap fuel abroad tax lorries coming in on the ferries. Taxing fuel more heavily is the ultimate form of congestion charge and would be much easier to implement than road pricing.

Steve Page, London, England

In reply to : Adam Crowley, Harrow, Middx

Ok, how do you think people under 21 are going to get to work...or maybe we should assume people don't start working until then. Plus if under 21's can't drive they should pay less tax, as why should they subsidise your travel?

Where I grew up (small village) if I couldn't have gone anywhere, apart from by bus (of which there were 2 a week). If public transport were available then it works, until it is this is an unfeasible option.

Jonathan Freeman, Winchester,

I now have retired to France where you do not pay road tax & diesel is much cheaper. You only need an MOT test after 4 years & then every 2 years afterwards. A big factor in our move has been the constant squeeze to take more & more money from the man in the street.

Surely if people must be taxed more for their motoring then higher fuel tax would be fairer with the biggest gas guzzlers paying proportionally more along with those who do the highest mileage. Essential & protected users could receive retrospective tax credits upon production of proof of consumption with incentives to reduce total mileage. A number of French towns have electric car schemes & free cycle schemes. UK must attend to public transport systems as a priority.

Donald Skinner, Pons, France

This zone proposal makes a mockery of the justification of a "congestion charge"
How can it be tax neutral when they have to raise enough to cover both the initial cost of implementing the system and the yearly running costs "£6bn has been quoted" before a tax profit is shown.
Road transport changes over the last 8 years have all been about trying to slow down vehicles now there trying to charge us for creating some of the problems, and as a result the engines are running less efficient so we get more unwanted pollution.
As with all things these days we seem to treat the symptoms and not the base problems

Bob Griffin, Otley, England

Standard Government Operating Procedure:
Create a straw man (privacy infringement, etc.) to draw the fire. Then present a seemingly more reasonable alternative. The result? The Government appears to have listened to the public and taken on board their concerns. And they get to impose an unworkable system. And they get more money. And it doesn't come from Income Tax. Then they tinker with the legislation. Then they infringe your privacy even more. Then they tinker with the statistics. Then they say that the system has worked. And that doing nothing was not an option. Finally they link together all the data from ANPR & Speed Cameras, Travel Cards, Mobile Phones, Credit Cards, Emails, Websites, Tax Records, Customs Records, Tickets and any other source they can.
Then they conveniently ignore the fact that no system or human is infallible.
Meanwhile, this incompetent rabble squander the money they have extracted on Illegal Wars, Quangos and Spin.
VOTE THEM OUT!

Adrian Walthoe, Brighton,

What is the point of the zoning, if there is no benefit to the drive to move away from the congested roads - forgive me if I'm wrong, but I thoght that was the point?

Matt Turner, Stoke,

Surely this is just a cunning plan to get drivers to accept higher tax on petrol? After all, that is pay-per-mile and without any of the big-brother issues and without the added costs of the tracking system etc. Won't we all end up accepting that instead, even if reluctantly?

Jim, Bristol,

So Mr Ladyman says on road pricing "....it would not add to the overall tax burden on motorists.....". Yeah!

Dave Hunter, Redcar, Cleveland

The ideal vehicle to divide Britain even more than into the haves and the have-nots - those who can go places and those who can't. Who dreams up these nonsensical schemes, some idiot in London who only uses the Tube?

Liz Attwood, Altrincham, UK

If the government increases fuel duty then they are at the wrath of the lorry drivers i.e. see the blockades of the fuel depots and the crawl around the m25 a year or two ago. This is a way of getting more tax without it "appearing" to be a tax on the commuter.

Don't you find it assuming that Tony Blair takes the car from 10 Downing Street to the House of Parliament when its only a ten minute walk? Special treatment I feel

Miles, London,

Increase the tax on petrol to cover e.g. 10000 miles per year at 30 mpg. remove road tax which is avoided by a considerable number of drivers, make all cars display an insurance disc and an MOT disc if appropiate. Tax collection on petrol exists now. Road pricing is unfair and unnecessary, merely a way of increasing government income and would not be spent on new roads or infrastructure and without some system of measuring mileage on specific roads, how is it going to be managed? Government computer systems are to say the least of it notorious for their inadequacy, and the idea of a spy in the car is ludicrous as the first thing many drivers would do is disable or otherwise stop them working. Apart from the sheer cost that is. And what about foreign visiting vehicles.
France with its toll roads does manage a method of pay as you go, couldn't something similar work here if it was absolutely essential to punish the poor motorist more. Improve public transport and ensure fares are affordable.

Bernard Faulks, Chichester, West Sussex

This just looks like yet another government smokescreen. If the system uses satellite tracking then it will know exactly where your car is at any time so that it knows when you move between zones, unless Ladyman's department has found a way of making GPS 'foggy' in the middle of zones. The only alternative I can see is a forest of congestion-style cameras littering the country wherever the zones change, equally unacceptable. This is nothing more than another hugely costly means of raising taxes whilst monitoring the population at the same time.

Bill, Cambs,

Another tax. Just what the world needs.

Frank Upton, Solihull,

Although I signed the petition, I do believe that something has to be done. I do not believe that charging people is the answer. Because the people with money will win through.
I think that No-Go areas are the answer. If instead of charge zones, the government were to stop all private transport within a certain laid down distance of the city/town centre, people would need to get onto public transport and taxis.

This, of course, will also be unpopular.

Nobody said it was going to be easy!!!!!!

Jeremy Bell, Martock, England

What a "mean" country Uk will become with such a system. No alternative routes.....
In France they dont have road tax and cheaper fuel. There ou have a choise to enter a toll road and pay to drive on a faster less congested route, OR take the non toll alternative on a more scenic route. I like the french syste, why cant they introduce that and forget about high tech. What about forreign cars visiting....they wouldnt be fitted with this box...thus it would pay to have a forreign registered car...

Bjorn Justnes, Swindon, Wiltshire

Its just a con. In 10 years time there will be a number of alternative fuel sources for cars and the government will not be able to put TAX on them all i.e electricity, but with only 3 choices at the moment there are no alternatives so they can TAX diesel and petrol as much as they want. This revenue will dissapear over the next 10 years and they have to make their money elsewhere.

Ade, Southampton, Hampshire

So the cat is out of the bag. Charging the same for less congested roads as congested roads points to one thing. Another Tax on the motorist.

Beware the statement, "it would not add to the overall tax burden on motorists in the year it was introduced". Years 2 onwards will see all but big business and the wealthy priced off the roads. As a reference see the 40% rise in the London Congestion charge and the Council Tax will be cheaper than the poll tax fiasco.

Si, Reading,

I think there is no alternative to roadpricing. Why should people taking public transport effectively subsidise motorists who use roads free of charge?

James Smythe, London,

A composite (fuel energy / basic insurance / pollution) tax could be levied using the current mechanism for fuel tax.
An escalator should be incorporated, keeping close watch on its effects, and fine-tuning it.
This could be implemented very easily, soon, and adjusted simply and cheaply, so releasing funds (which are apparently already available), for improvements in public transport.

B.R.S., Bristol, U.K.

Edmund King, director of the RAC Foundation, said: “This might deal with the problem of diversion on to smaller roads but it also creates an unfair situation in which quiet local roads would be just as expensive as main roads in the same area.

Could Edmund King please explain why that is unfair?

Tania Baxter, forfar,

Sorry but this does work. There is no justice in being charged a higher price simply because of the area you live in. No matter what road you are using the price should be the same. It is not the fault of someone living near a town or city centre that hundreds, or thousands, of commuters are clogging up the roads instead of using public transport

Jeff, Preston, UK

Anyone who thinks this is about congestion or pollution or traffic safety is totally naive, you only have to look at the congestion zones in London to know that this is simply about money. The public transport system is not viable as a 21st century alternative so charging will not change behaviour. Those on lower income will be the real loosers paying once on the roads and twice through inflated prices of goods as businesses pass costs on. I thought the general public had already voiced their opinion overwhelmingly on this? Why do the Labout government contiinue to ignore their constituents? Where is a decent opposition party when you need one?

Sinead, Bucks, England

Why is the option of doing nothing about congestion not feasible?

Surely the increase in congestion is the pure operation of the market. Those who find congestion intolerable will find other means of travel, or stay at home.

If one carries through the Road Pricing philosophy to other problem areas one could suggest that the way to beat obesity would be to tax food to the point where most people could only afford to eat at bare subsidance level.

Let the market decide.

Thomas Johnson, Middlewich, England

The whole idea is supposed to make life easier on the roads, but I guess that's what they said about the congestion charge , parking meters, red routes, yellow lines, bus lanes and Parking Tickets etc... ;0( I reckon that we should all just pay for the services we have available like the late buses the late trains and tubes and the wonderful help we get when we use them like when I have to carry my new born on the bus whilst juggling my buggie and my laptop for work on one arm... you get my drift.... human sandwich... I could go on...freedom of speech and all but what the point....Soon I'll be charged for speaking....Great Job! London Government!

Chris Kaine, London,

New fair taxation system

Q: How much do you earn?
A:

Send it to us

David Conlin, Liverpool, UK

Crazy. OK lets spend 20billion some incredibly complicated IT system, which will be 10 years late and ends up costing 40billion. When it arrives will cost a fortune to administer, it will constantly crash, lots of dead people and 2 year olds will be send bills, many others will refuse to pay up. The government will decide that it's not worth chasing the bad debts from single parents but everyone else will have to pay double, someone else will design another computer programme to force the bad debtors to pay, that programme will be 10 year late and 40 billion over budget, when it arrives it will not be compatible with EU legislation which states that every one has to move by horse and cart

Jason White, Paris, France

The Government can complicate rain, all we have to do is put it on fuel any vehicle that is moving is legal those that use most pay most etc,,or can someone explain if this is too easy or should i just become prime minister

Glynn Hughes, redruth, Cornwall

Clearly this has abosolutely nothing to do with congestion because part of the solution to limiting congestion on overused roads would be to persuade people to use lesser frequented ones. If the government want to tax people who use less congested roads the same amount as those using the more congested ones, then they should just admit that this is another form of taxation (which doesn't even warrant the word "stealth" because it is so crass). Perhaps the goverment can't see that the solution does not have to be any more sophisticated than: tax the petrol you use.

Les, Lavendon, United Kingdom

I have family in Liverpool and in Reading and I live in Nottingham. I am on a fairly low income and sacrifice a lot to be able to run my car. If they bring in these horrendous charges I won't see my family and I'll have to give up my job - Thanks Tony.

Chris Clarke, Nottingham,

Although it has not come to this...yet. I am sure they are thinking about it here in the United States.

Tod Aubin, San Diego, California, United States

Add tax to the price of petrol why have a complicated scheme on top of petrol pricing. Petrol pricing is more expensive for larger cars so a rise in petrol prices will encourge some drivers into greener smaller cars. This goverment is taking the big brother thing too far. This scheme and the ID cards if the goverment got their way would enfringe on our privacy beyond what seems acceptable. Another sound bite that may end up in an own goal for Labour.

Seamus, London,

This is not about congestion and it's not about privacy - both very real problems! It is just another way to tax the British people. Read Mr Ladyman's comments again "it would not add to the overall tax burden on motorists in the year it was introduced" which at the very least means thereafter, drivers will be targeted again and again. The only way to encourage people off the roads is to provide a national transport system people would prefer to use instead of sitting in traffic for hours. Any further ideas the government has for new taxes and charges should be strongly resisted - just another licence for them to print money - when they can't find it anywhere else, the congestion charge and this price plan will be the way forward. Stop it now!

Amanda Russell, London, United Kingdom

"2 miles Maximum distance of one in four car journeys"

Everyone seems to ignore this statistic for their own convenience.

I am sure there are many for whom a car is essential in certain situations. For the rest of us - I'm certain it is the majority - it is time we got on our bikes and cycled these very short journeys, to school, to work, to the shops, etc.

This would decrease congestion, reduce pollution, increase fitness, and increase awareness of cyclists, making it safer.

Nick, Winchester, UK

This Government seems to continue down the road of imposing increased taxation as a solution to a problem. It has never worked in the past and will not solve congestion in the future.

I live outside Leeds, a city that has grown very rapidly in the past few years. Planners continually give consent to the building of more office blocks in the city centre without giving thought to the additional traffic that will result from their occupation. In addition, there has been very little improvement in the public transport network; it is both unreliable and increasingly expensive. Only recently, the same Department of Transport turned down funding for a city tram network after many millions of local public funds were wasted in starting to build the infrastructure.

I recognise that congestion is a problem. Investment by government and NOT taxation is the solution to the problem.

John Russell, Leeds,

We live 70 miles from my husband's work and can't move closer as we support his elderly parents in their own home. I work part time (night shifts) so that I can help them and care for our young son. At 10p a mile we would have to find an extra 260.00 a month (taking into account holidays). We currrently manage by being frugal and avoiding debt. Mr Brown seems intent on squeezing so much out of us that we'll go under.

Ann, Oxford, UK

With 1 in 10 cars still not paying road tax or uninsured, How on earth can we trust the government to run this new complex system properly! It's just going to waste lots more public money, and some people will find a way of not paying.
Time for a change of government. I'm fed up of these hairbrained moneywasting schemes.

E Goodbody, Stafford, UK

This the Blair/Brown poll tax on car drivers, the car will become Labours downfall, we the drivers of the UK MUST unite and stop this unfair tax.

When will thiscountry Wake Up andrealize just what stlye of Goverment we have, very taxing, next tine we have a General Election lets get rid of them.

Also there full of sleaze and they do not even bother to resign!!!!

Keith Pullen, Tewkesbury, UK

We currently pay far too much for the use of our cars, how much more are we expected to pay!!
It would seem that the governemnt wants to tax the individual for everything, too many taxes will have an adverse affect on our economy. Its not as though our transport system is great.

Bilal Saddique , Manchester ,

What about those who do not tax, insure or register their cars. It will ensure that the law abiding will be penalised yet again.

larry Evans, Isle of Wight, uk

And supposing I remove the black box from my car altogether and leave it at home?

Michael, York,

Well done Barry-totally agree with you. Why don't the governement realise that if the public transport system was better run and less expensive, more people would use it? Repair the roads, keep the traffic moving and people that drive more, pay more.

Jennifer, Andover, England

Unless we have a very efficient public transport system people will continue to use their cars in order to arrive at their destination on time. Overcroweded trains, poor timekeeping, buses that don't arrive on time all contribute to my own reluctance to use this system. Why isn't this being done? It is a no brainer. Also improve safety on roads for cyclists so we will feel safe enough to take journeys in this "green" way!

Roz Kadir, Kingston, Surrey

Just shows you how out of touch and aragant the govenment is! Taxing motorists on road useage will not solve anything without improving the alternative transport infrastructure. Are will all driving on the roads for the fun of it? Most people are just trying to earn a 'crust' to survive!

chris grattan, Wilmslow, Cheshire

All this 'road pricing' stuff seems to be just spin, designed to distract everyone's attention from Labour's utter failure to build any roads or get any of the transport system working. When their policies fail, Third-world governments habitually seek to punish someone else for their failure, 'in revenge'. What else is this? The only votes that seem to matter to anyone in London are those given to the BNP, so perhaps we all need to vote for them.

Roger Pearse, Ipswich, Suffolk

Nearly two million people participated in the online goverment site, opposing this road tax. this followed up that everyone received an e-mail, which in suumery stated that they give a damn what the people want, as ther are going ahead with this scheme. Did everyone also realise we have to pay for this black box in our cars? cost of up to £600.
Democracy, what democracy. Yes we can teach undemocratic countries a lot.

Jasmine Foxley, Southampton, UK

1. Road pricing would not ease congestion: many people will simply demand more money to pay, and population increase will see to the rest of it.
2. The plan is not about congestion: that's why it doesn't matter which roads you use.
3. The plan is about squeezing cash out of drivers, but since the plan will require its own obese bureaucracy to operate, much of the proceeds will be eaten up by the scheme itself.
4. Road pricing would obviously discriminate against poorer people. They however are not necessarily less important to the economy. (Pensioners might well stop driving.) Or is there to be another bureaucracy to work out a system of allowances so that poorer people are not discriminated against?
5. Wouldn't this new set of taxes fuel inflation?

Mike Edwards, Cardiff, South Wales

I agree with Jo I do not understand at all how a system might work - totally confusing. If the purpose is to get people using other transport systems like trains than I certainly won't be switiching. I tried it this week thinking it might cut my stress levels down when I drive from Streaham to Staines. But the train was much worse - so crowded you could not get on the one you want - then wait for another and scramble for the doors - then forced on like sardines - having to listen to Beyonce on somebody's MP3 player at top wack and I had to pay £8.20 for the priviledge. No back to the car for me where I can sing along to music of my own choice.

Michele, London,

I signed the online petition which was set up by the government , Do our views not count towards anything nowadays as the government seem hell bent on enforcing this scheme even if the public dont want it?
Does this also mean that they will invest in better public transport and we see fares reduce rather than rise. It seems to me that a government who said they were for the people appear to be wanting to profit from people who work and have to travel to their place of employment and yet through all this pay rises are still below the rate of inflation, the amount of people going into bankruptcy or being evicted as they cannot pay their mortgage and bills is onvreasing yet we are being asked for mpre money. Perhaps the government want us to live in shanty towns whilst the ministers live in mansions.

Marc, Benfleet,

Congestion charge zone extended to the whole of the UK! We are led to believe that the high rollers with expensive cars will be hit. The reality is that this tax will be put down as a necessary "company expense", so it will NOT effect the high rollers. However, it will reduce the company's bank balance and its ability to pay its staff, thus increasing the polarisation between the high roller and the average employee and the ability of the average employee to afford the UK wide congestion charge. This is a tax that helps the high rollers get around.

Every trip will now be associated with work somehow in order to make it a company expense. This is a tax which will breed deceit.

Phil, Kent, UK

I can't even believe we as a nation are going to allow this bill to be introduced. It is yet another example of the Labour government introducing more taxation and wringing every last pound out of salaries in the name of dubious environmental benefit. People will find some way around it or just pay up, so nothing will change. Surely the way forward to invest the vast tax sums we pay into the public transport system to give people a viable alternative to using the car. Rail prices must be addressed, unless you book months in advance rail travel is prohibitively expensive, so it's no wonder people use thier cars. The congestion charge is a farce, what does it really do except feed the coffers of city hall? Have we seen any dramatic improvements in public transport? Look past the rhetoric and the statistics and talk to people who use the system everyday, I think the answer is no. Surely there is a better way than road-pricing?!

Anthony Vernon, London, Middx

Watch out, Penny from London. The road pricing is that old Stalinist gimmick of internal passports in new rags, since it won't just be a matter of pricing. If your payment is refused, you can't drive that way and have to do the old Resistance thing of hiding bicycles in hedges. This will fit nicely with the population-wide database being built under the guise of child protection. The biometric passport and the tendency of the police to arrest, fingerprint and DNA sample anyone who has the nerve to tackle a hoodie increases the grip the state has over the individual. Anybody who doubts this is invited to visit the Jersey Hospital Museum to see how the it worked then, and will work now. It's not secret, just unbelievable, which I understand was also a problem then. Better believe it this time.

D Samuel, Cambridge, England

Every commentator from the Prime Minister down refers to this figure of 6 million extra cars on the road in the last 10 years. Where does this come from? as the National Statistics Office states that there has only been a 4% increase in car ownership in the last 10 years and this only equates to approx 950,000! Taking this into account together with the fact that anybody who drives a commercial vehicle for a living has left their car at home or in a car park, plus those who have more than one car (you can only drive one at a time). Extra cars do not equate to worsening congestion. This is a 'smoke and mirror' exercise on the part of this Government and various 'green bodies' to try and convince us of the need to introduce further taxes.

Bruce Johnson, Cumbria,

This road pricing scheme has been thought up by the EU . Europe has just launched its own satellite named Galileo ( A SatNav system) or more precise, Spy-in -the-sky. Up to now the Sat Navs were operated via an American Satellite. The Galileo Satellite has cost something in the region of £200 million ,in order to get this money, and future running costs back the EU must either pay for it through Road Pricing or Indirect Tax. Either way we are going to have to pay for it whether we like it or not. The EU have spoken !

Ian, Aldbrough, England

Write to your local MP. Enough is enough, I would take public transport if it was cheap and reliable enough..ok if it was cheap enough. And thats the main problem, even though public transport in my area of Essex is becoming more reliable it still can't bet the value of money that private tranport can, so what are the governemtn to do about it? This is what, charge us a ridicous amount of money. to drive in our cars. Why not take road tax and tpff insurance away and put both bills on fuel duty, then wouldn't have so many un-insured drivers. Anyway do New Labour think they might still be in power by 2015? So they are going to have a battle on there hands.

Chris, southend-on-sea, essex

I thought the whole "point" of this scheme was to reduce congestion? If you pay the same on a busy main road as you do in a deserted residential street, where's the benefit? Ah yes, more revenue for the Government. It won't replace any tax, it'll just be added on top of them. And they wonder why 1.8 million people opposed this cash-grabbing scheme?

Neil S, Glasgow, Scotland

Would it not be easer for the government to have us all tagged and have surveillance systems installed in our homes and places of work, then they could charge not only for driving by the mile, but also for the amount of times we use the loo or eat fatty foods.
When will this nonsense stop?

Albert hamilton, Belfast, Northern Ireland

I remain baffled as to why this super-expensive project is to be undertaken. Haven't the government noticed that cars run on fuel?
Bigger engined cars use more fuel. Longer journeys use more fuel. So why not just increase fuel duty to discourage both and save us all the myriad problems associated with road pricing?
What am I missing here?

Matt Williams, London,

get the poor off the road make more room for those in the big cars that don't care how much because they can afford it.

june hart, hockley, uk

Once again it's Revenue, Revenue, Revenue! All this "Government" ever thinks about is more tax so they have more to waste.
Charging people to travel on an empty rural road contributes nothing to relieving congestion. Equally if a driver decided to travel at night when the roads are relatively empty why should he pay anything because he is not contributing to congestion.
We've got this shower until at least 2010 - God help us!

C J Wales, Shawbury, England

Its all well and good to reduce the fuel duty and introduce Road charging but how does this help to reduce Global warming. Those with expensive Gas guzzlers will benefit more by the introduction in Taxes and the implementation of Road Charges than those of us running smaller and more enviromentally friendly cars therefore not encouraging them to change to more efficient vehicles. This is yet another Government process to reduce the tax burden on the rich and increase the tax burden on the poor.

Peter, Newbury,

Yet another knee jerk reaction to adverse public opinion.
Mr Ladyman was pretty useless at health and is proving that he hasnt improved.

Tony, Oxford,

So far each of the proposals has been aimed at milking the car driving public without providing a cost effective cohesive alternative fuel efficient transport for the country as a whole,
As a person who lives in rural Devon I note with increasing dismay how the policies are made by inexperienced people who live in the capital where they can indulge in the use of many modes of public transport.
I agree that some thing has to be done about congestion but until viable alternatives are provide for everyone then some of these schemes could work to help.
We need to look at the the technologies of carbon capture and alternative engine technologies and encourage their use rather than cripple the economy with massive road charges.
As for the town 4x4 mums taxi brigade a number of alternative proposals have been suggested that would help ease congestion but as these have not come from within the Quangos that "guide" the government

Chris Watson, Lifton, Devon, UK

Pay as you go. I agree with Kevin Theobald. Include the cost in each litre of fuel then those who pay have a right to play. The proposed system smacks of "big brother" and erodes personal freedom yet further. With further increases in levies on those using airlines in the pipeline, we could see even more cars on the roads as people stay at home. How many people remember the studies done on mice in an overcrowded environment a few decades ago?

Malcolm Wright, Paignton, Devon UK

IF this were successful AND reduces car use, the treasury would have to RAISE taxes on the reduced car journeys to get the same amount of revenue. i.e. Fuel duty, road fund licence, would still have to go UP not down. Even if it were revenue "neutral" then where will the funding come from for improved public transport alternatives?? There won't be any. This is another Brown tax on living. Why not just increase income tax to 100%, give us all a council house and free food and be done with it.

john smith, manchester, UK

Our politicians have decided that Brave New World and 1984 are to be the blueprints for Britain. Perhaps that's what a comprehensive school education taught them.

ted machin, poland,

I'm slightly confused. The changed plan means that we will be made to "pay by the mile without tracking on every road" through the introduction of zones; however, how will the government know which zone a driver is in without some form of tracking?

Jennifer Anderson, Oxford, England

If you know anything about GPS you will know that they don't work on congestion zones, they work on longitude and latitude, known more commonly as grid references so to be in a ‘zone’ you have to have a grid reference that puts you there.
So as well as not solving the congestion problem the government will raise millions of pounds and know where you are at all times. Unless of course you don’t bother to register your car, that way you can be rest assured that only the smallest budget will be used to track your law breaking habits, unlike the billions that it will cost to keep tabs on where we all are!

Dave, harrogate,

I am completely againdst ROAD PRICING. What next GOV. will do next to make money from PUBLIC, charge you to walk on the street ?"

Munna, London, UK.

Anne Rossiter from a "think tank" said "A zone system would be much simpler to understand and easier to administer.” Now that is really mocking us.
This topic cries out for a simple (unrigged) referendum,
For or Against ? where are you Cameron?

Frank Hutchinson, London,

What is it with this IT-illiterate government that they want to introduce yet another tier of poor technology, not to mention the administrators such a system will inevitably require? They do know, one supposes, that they already have several methods of extracting cash from drivers? Bung a couple more pence on the price of petrol if they must, but to create yet more bureacracy is so mind-bogglingly counter-productive, and the capabilities of the companies running government IT is suspect to say the very least. Unless of course HMG is simply creating jobs for former civil servants whose places haven't been taken by the burgeoning ranks of consultants. If Cameron promises to have nothing to do with such shenanigans, he'll be in Downing Street in a trice. He won't need to be good, only to be not Tony Blair.

Barry Lane, Eastbourne, East Sussex

This is madness - why do we pay road tax and now this? Is this something similar to when they introduced VAT as an alternative to income tax but, decided to keep both.

I bet that the government have earmarked themselves for special dispensation so they can commute all over the country without paying any tax whatsoever.

I'm also interested in seeing how they plan to charge those that have cars registered abroad and who are tourists. What will this do for the tourist market and those working on the ferries. Do they really think that tourists will come to the UK and pay to drive? How would they pay in the first place? What is this going to do for those that enjoy caravaning around the country?

Tell you what - why don't we just give Tony Blair and his cronies all our money and we just sit in the corner and do nothing because clearly he isn't listening to a word the public have to say.

Miles, London,

Is this ever really going to happen??
The EU satellite system "Galilleo" is over-budget and years behind schedule - this system is supposed to monitor our millions of vehicles.
The Government has ordered a multi-billion pound NHS integrated IT system - again over budget and years behind and riddled with faults.
The Olympics 2012 are now already estimated to be billions of pounds over-budget!!
Hopefully a new Government will realise not to throw taxpayers pounds into this latest bottomless pit

Richard Garland, Manchester, Gtr Manchester

The option of doing nothing about escalating car usage and congestion is simply not feasible. However, any system which is implemented should be targetted at reducing congestion i.e. less car usage, and not just moving it to rural areas. A zoned system therefore makes much more sense to me. The zones should also be combined with a concept of peak hours which would allow local traffic to operate outside of commuting periods.

Richard, Tunbridge Wells,

I'm under the impression that the road pricing plans will only apply to ENGLAND, not the rest of the UK. The Scottish and Welsh parlaiment have responsibility for transport and I think have stated that there are no plans to introduce road pricing in these countries. For England, the Minister of Transport, Douglas Alexander, who represents a Scottish constituency, will control transport in England.
To find out more visit here:
http://www.thecep.org.uk/news/ViewItem.asp?Entry=1494

And if you feel angry visit this site:
http://www.justiceforengland.com/welcome.htm

brian, london, england

Rather than address the problem on the roads, the government seems determined to profit from it. Slowly over the years, driving has become a "right" for all, rather than a privilege for those who are competent. Surely this is totally wrong? Make the driving test hard, really hard; include motorways, country driving, long distance, town driving, vehicle care, winter driving, summer driving, skid pan tests, economy driving etc. Do this today, and you’ll remove a large percentage of motorists straight away. Lower congestion and fewer accidents will result but also, heaven forbid, less revenue in fuel tax and road tax.
However, what will we do with all the motorists now out of a car when the public transport is so hopeless? This country is becoming ridiculous.

G.M, Worcestershire, UK

It is still not clear exactly how the pricing will work. Can anyone explain succinctly?

Jo, London,

If the government removed the estimated 2 million cars from our roads which are uninsured, untaxed, no MOT or driven by unqualified drivers, then perhaps congestion would be less of an issue. This underclass of motorists is responsible for the majority of road accidents and their removal would greatly contribute to road safety. Unfortunately many people regard car ownership as a right but without the responsibilities. The govrnment is not interested in congestion or road safety but only in revenue generation.

R M Leake, Solihull, UK

I wonder if the new idea will charge the same whether travelling freely to leave a city centre zone or travelling in queues trying to enter the zone? I wonder if the charge for a zone will change by time of day? I wonder if my uncongested city cul-de-sac will be charged at the same rate as the permanently clogged "A" road running alongside it? If the true reason for the charge is to relieve congestion then all the answeres must be "NO".

Matt, London,

Sorry, congestion is not the only aim of the scheme but one aim. I don't know why the govt is tip-toeing around the motorists on this. The most polluting cars should be subject to higher taxes (not 4x4's but all high polluting vehicles). Fuel should become more expensive the more miles you cover. Driving during peak times should be more expensive than off peak times. Parking or travelling into innercities or areas well served by public transport should be prohibitively high. Yes this will prevent some good and well meaning people from using their cars, but so be it.

Iheke Ndukwe, Surrey,

I've never understood the point of road pricing, especially in the light of the huge cost and the risk of it not working at all, like so many other government IT projects. We already pay by the mile via petrol duty whihc has the benefit of encouraging more economical cars, pay for congestion by delays and more than enough via taxes to maintain a gold plated, super safe, fast road AND rail network. The best example we have, the London congestion charge is probably a failure as the economic benefit of 15% reduction in congestion goes only to those who can afford the charge - but they pay £8 for it. the pleasure to the rest of us of having less cars alone costs nothing. On the other hand, we do know that there is a loss in passing trade and city centre shopping, to driving further to avoid the charge, capital costs and administration. What are they doing it for?

R MASON, London, UK

Surely we cannot allow the government to introduce this primarily money making scheme.

Whilst I seriously doubt that this scheme will resolve the congestion issue, in my view, the plan is highly likely to lead to a myriad of problems. For example, if a car is kept under a city centre apartment will that person have to pay a higher premium because whenever they use their car they are likely to be a Zone 1 tarriff? How will we know where a Zone begins and another ends? How much is this likely to add to the cost of our everyday motoring?

James Watson, Sheffield, UK

The New Labour spin machine will now try to hoodwink us into thinking that the scheme's not so bad after all. But remember Red Ken's "congestion" charge in London, which was introduced as a £5 "fixed fee". It's now £8, the area is expanding all the time and what was sneaked in as a "congection" charge will now be used as a class war tax against those of us with decent cars.

Sure, it'll start at 2p/mile in the country, then 4p, then 10p, then 50p. And what's defined as the "country"? First it'll be rural areas in England, then it'll be one road in Northumberland, with the rest of the country classed as "suburbia" at 60p/mile, then £1.50 etc.....

Beware! Don't believe all the lies that we will now bw fed!!!!

Dave, Notts, uk

We already have a congestion charge in the form of the highest fuel duty in the world. In other words - we drive more, we pay more tax. The politicians know this, we know this, but still they want more of our money. The government knows the public won't put up with higher rates of fuel tax because it puts back into road building and repair only a fraction of what it receives in fuel duty. Hence the desire for a different system, by which they can rip us off all over again. But we've had enough of their stealth taxes. Come the next election, New Labour will be history.

Dave Cook, Whitley Bay, UK

and this is different to road tax how? The obvious one being they're able to squeeze more money out of people. this wont solve congestion at all! As house prices continue to rise, people are forced to live further from work and thus have to travel more. So this really boils down to a stealth tax, as what's the bet they wont drop fuel tax completely. They'll just lower it, and in turn you'll end up paying more for the same old service with the same old false promises. Nothing new then eh! This government couldn't organise a *&@* up in a brewrey, it's a shambles it really is!

Simon, Lincoln,

I fear that Mr Ladyman has misconstrued the public's concerns regarding the petition against road pricing. Whilst I am sure that there are those who are conscious of the Government's ability to track us wherever we go (and I must say I share that concern) is it not the more prominent fear that our journey's to work and to see friends will hit us where it hurts most...our pockets?!

As we have seen time and time again in the past, I would be confident that any "nuetralising" effect by way of reduction in fuel tax or road tax would be futile, short-lived or both.

Kevin Latham, Warrington,

All very well and good, but how will the government identify essential road users over casual and commuter useage?

simon lockwood, oldbury,

Surely everybody can see that all governments, no matter what flavour, introduce a scheme in the most publically acceptable way possible, with all sorts of 'promises' to get initial acceptance to an otherwise abhorant plan. Over the years government can then introduce piecemeal the plan they originally had. Anybody can surely see that this is a step toward plotting your every move, next identity cards, and then identity chips that can be tracked!

I think it's time we all read 1984 again. It's so easy to justify putting a camera in your house "to stop a child being raped or assaulted", but you must ask at what point does this all start, and where do you stop it? I can't see an end to the creaping nanny state - all done in the name of civilisation. In the corner of my mind I find I am thinking more and more that danger is acceptable for freedom, and consequently I'm doubting I want to bring up my unborn child in this environment.

Paul, Milton Keynes, UK

It's simply a regressive tax , aimed at returning us to the early 20th century when only the well-off could afford personal transport. When are we going to get some politicians who actually support working people, instead of taxing them ever harder.

Andy Coleman, BRIGHTON,

If this doesn't prove that this is all about extra taxation, then I don't know what will. Charging the same for congested and less congested roads makes no sense if the aim is to reduce congestion. This is just another stealth tax, but note that the scheme is not supposed to start until 2015 - are Labour assuming that they will be in power all the time between now and then, or can we assume that the Tories would continue down this road during any time they spend in charge? They have been very quiet about the situation, and I suspect that some sort of all party agreement has been made - is any Conservative MP willing to talk about their plans?

tony dummelow, birmingham,

The motorist has said NO to any form of road tax.

Why does this ignorant government keep plugging road charges; the latest head line in your excellent paper upon "zoning charges" is just another way to obtain yet more taxes through the back do.

No the motorist will not stand for any form of raod charging; when will this government get the message?

Michael Leigh, Nottingham, uk

A couple of points
1. Congestion can only be reduced by having fewer vehicles on the road. This can only be achived by forcing motorists off the road and having a better public transport system. While we all want this to happen, none of us want to pay more for our car or be prepared to pay for/use public transport. In which case live with the congestion
2. All tax systems have a cost of collection. Any zonal charge, or tracking system, has a higher cost than simply adding the amount to fuel tax. This menas that we tax the amount an vehicle travels, but will penalise those who live in rural communities.

Alan Dow, Fleet, Hants

I'd like to see ALL revenue arising from fuel duty, congestion charges and the like being used SOLELY to finance public transportation, roads and related infrastructure. Only then would I be convinced that it's not about raising more money for the Treasury and that the population be damned.

Roland, London,

If people don't like congestion they will take whatever steps THEY themselves deem to be appropriate by travelling a different route or at a different time or going to an alternative place or else if circumstances demand putting up with the congestion. We don't need the nanny state to tell us where and how we should travel. George Orwell lives on. So-called traffic planning by reducing road space, (No) speed humps, etc. does not reduce congestion but merely adds to it.

t fowler, Weymouth, England

Over the past years, the politicians have allowed millions of people into this country.

This has been achieved without the consent of the public.

Over the next few years, the politicians will allow millions of more people into the country.

Is it not a fact that this is a major contributor to the increased number of cars on the roads? This is not racist but statistics.

Why should people pay for a government policy that created the problem?

The tax raised, will some of it be past to Scotland as they take a larger part of the tax pot.

This is also a tax in the poor, in reality, the upper and middle classes will benefit from less traffic on the roads.

David Scott, Manchester, England

Nothing's really working under New Labour, is it?!

Transport; Education; the Health Service; policing and crime - all are an even bigger mess than they were in 1997. We are taxed more and more for the government's incompetence and failure. And their "screwing" down of local authorities only means higher local taxes and less efficent local government and policing.

I am old; retired; in ill-health; poor, and thoroughly fed up with the poseurs; frauds and spivs in the New Labour cabinet and government. It's time we voted the Conservatives into office.

Road-pricing isn't a cure. It will hurt old people like me. I hate socialist politicians!

John S M Roberts, O.B.E., Seaford, E.Sussex/England

Just another way of the government extracting more revenue from the people!

They are bleeding us dry!! They have made the public so apathetic that nobody has the will or energy to complain - funny that the public have not reacted the same way as they did when Margaret Thatcher brought in the poll tax.

Kev, Ashford, UK

David Cameron has said nothing about black boxes and road pricing. The moment he comes out and says he is against it, he is getting my vote.

Pete, Cov,

Typical example of the government sucking every last drip of life from us. Why don't they just stick us in pods Matrix-style, plug in our brains and create a non-congested virtual world instead.

I'm 28 years of age, married, no kids(can't afford). Between myself and my wife we earn around £53,000 a year. I was paid two days ago and my bank balance is showing -£3187. THREE pounds less than my overdraft limit, with over £800 more in bills to pay this month. If we on above average earnings are struggling to keep afloat in such times, how difficult must it be for lower earning people? Interest rate hikes which are higher than page increases, tax increases, gas and electricity increases, travel cost increases, all whilst none of these services are actually getting any better. It makes me wonder what on earth I go to work for! Oh yes...that's why so many people don't work isn't it...because it's easier to stay at home and claim benefits!

RC, London,

"he said their main concern appeared to be that road pricing would allow the Government to track every driver’s movements through a satellite positioning device in each car"

No its not. I havent any concrete proof, but by the comments on previous related articles by Times readers, we are more opposed to the charge itself, in that we will still be forced to drive the same distances, but will now have to pay for it.

Typical political spin.

Pete, Cov,

This present government is determined to take this technology to the roads no matter what we say or do and its all to do with just stealing more money from us to feed their tax and spend policies. The poor motorist is the easiest way of raising this revenue. I have now come to the conclusion that this NU Labour is utterly corrupt and needs to be taken out. Having said that I have not heard any of the other parties remonstate against these rediculous and swinging policies against us.
Big Brother is not arriving- its already here and beginning to flex its muscles under these left wing madmen.

Emily Lee, Carshalton, UK/ Surrey

Surely this is just another way to keep the poor off the roads and leave them for the 4x4 brigade. Our fuel tax is the most expensive in europe, our road tax outlandish, we are also charged to use roads to go into Wales, Cornwall and London etc. Car insurance is rising daily ! When will it stop! No doubt it will at the motorists expense to fit any technology required to operate this system. Pay to tax yourself!!

Malcolm Geall, Barnstaple, Devon,

Perhaps the reduction in fuel usage due to the new charges will result in less global warming- why not put the money from this project into this area so that we feel at least there is a benifit from it.

Judith Balcazar, London, UK

We already have a perfectly good, workable system in the revenue paid on fuel.

The more miles you do the more tax you pay.

Like every tax designed to reduce use, this one will fail as adding a few pounds a day onto the running costs will not stop people using their cars

.Has increased duty on cigarettes stopped people smoking?

Paul Gray, South Shields, Tyne and Wear

All the Government's talk of road pricing and congestion charges has nothing to do with easing congestion or reducing polution. They see it as another way of raising more taxes while cloaking it in disguise that is respectable to the PC brigade.

One way of easing urban congestion and improving traffic flow and also reducing polution would be to enforce traffic regulations such as no parking on double yellow lines, and not driving in to box junctions unless the exit is clear. Won't happen though - it would require police officers, and the government seems eager on replacing most of them with speed cameras!

Richard, Manchester,

Increase fuel duty, its simple. Road pricing is just a more elaborate way of taxing UK residents, whilst incurring unnecessary costs for the UK taxpayer. There are large numbers of road users who have no road tax, insurance or even a valid MOT, these same people will not be queuing up for a black box.

peter cherry, Singapore, Singapore

The SOLE objective of ANY scheme should be to reduce congestion. Charging people equally for travelling on congested and non-congested roads does nothing to ease congestion and says everything about the real intentions of the scheme.

Lance, Horley, UK

At least they've now come clean and admitted it's about revenue raising rather than alleviating congestion. I doubt it will make much difference to congestion, the majority of people will still have to be at work for 9:00am, now we will just have to pay more to get there.

I can see the market for cloned or fake number plates opening up.

paul, leeds,

It gets worse.... who will decide how much each zone costs (one price for labour controlled zones, another price for friends and relations) and how big will the zones be? Are we to have signs on the entry to every zone so we know how much it costs (£1 to go straight on, £2 to turn left)? Do I get a discount on my local zone? The real answer to road congestion is fuel duty - the more you travel the more you pay. Scrap excise licence, invest in public transport and fix the existing highway bottlenecks.

Barry Aldred, Winchester,

Why is it that this government seems to believe that the only way to ease congestion, is to charge us for using our cars.
They need to look at the road network and improve traffic flow. Where I live it is a living hell trying to get from on part of the city to the other, mainly due to poor traffic management.
The idea that charging people will stop people using their vehicles is a joke.
Ask anyone on the M6 on a Monday morning if they agree with Mr Ladyman????

Christy Conroy, Leicester, UK

I thought the idea was for a congestion charge. This won't diffuse congestion, as has been proved by the london congesion zone, only move it as people skirt around higher zones clogging up different roads. What does the government then do? Widen the congestion zone to catch the people just outside it? Vive le idiot. My 20 mile route to work has to be a38 south out of birmingham, a45 into coventry then a choice of backstreet or a444/a4114. Will this zone aid me? No, i'm travelling against traffic both ways but i'll still get charged exorbitant rates.

Alistair Kipling, Birmingham,

If they want to reduce congestion, why not raise the driving age to 18 or slightly higher?

Increasing the age will temporarily defer many of the 6m new drivers, while some of the older drivers retire from the road - Net benefit of less motorists!

Additional effects would be to reduce insurance premiums, plus also reduce some of the boy racers faced on the roads.

That to me would seem a better route, rather than reducing the civil liberty of freedom to movement, plus extra taxes everyone would have to pay as the transport network is overpriced forcing people to drive in the first place!

Adam Crowley, Harrow, Middx

Yet another invasion of privacy. Big Brother does not even come a close second to this Goverment. We will all shortly require a micro chip inserted in our skin so that we can be tracked and checked at every stage of our life. Any shade of politics that say's NO to this proposal will get my vote.

David Burrows, Perth, Australia

I've also been a long term proponent for replacing tolls, car tax, third party insurance or indeed any tax on motoring with an extra charge on fuel. Provided the change was tax neutral it is the only way of taxing motorists that is fair being based purely on mileage driven. The benefits from this simple switch would be, no evasion, no extra civil servants, everyone would be insured at a basic level and even foregign drivers would have to pay some of the costs . All other methods touted by the government are skewed one way of the other with unfairness to one or other groups and they require significant investmant to the infrastreucture and additional car costs.

Mike, Denia, Spain

Oh dear! I do believe that Tony Blair has found his Poll Tax!

Mr D Hunt, Romsey,

Why doesn't the Government just simplify all their intrusive initiatives and micro-tag us all at birth?

Penny, London,

These are just extra taxes.

If I do not have the cash (I do not have a debit or credit card) to be able get to my work place by Lonodon (I can not afford accomodation there and I work-from-home as much as possible) I will probably be fired - and be forced onto benefits.

How does that help anyone?

Labour keeps increasing taxes - we are losing our ability to pay.

Incidentally, what has happened to the fuel and vehicle taxes we have paid the last decade? John Prescott's Grand Schemes?

Alun, Westbury, UK

It is all very well charging the motorist to reduce the traffi c on roads. There are lot of qestions unanswered. People working away from home who cannot get to work on public transport and at the same time it wo't be ecnomical for them to work at that place having paid the congestion charges.
At the same time public tranport is not safer any more eg stabbing looting going on all the time

CM KHAN, BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND

Let us face it. By 2015, we will have petrol rationing. World oil production peaked last year at around 85 million barrels of oil equivalent/day. For the next few years, it will remain at around this figure before declining at around 2% initially and 6% eventually.

The North Sea has been in decline for a number of years and is now declining at around 8% each year. The UK, until recently a substantial exporter, will soon be a substantial importer.

Let us get real and start learning how to economize!

Alfred, Ryde, Isle of Wight, UK

"“The best way to win support for road pricing is to allow drivers to volunteer to have black boxes in their cars in return for a reduction in fuel duty"

Not really thought that one through, has he. People in rural areas where roads are cheap would install black boxes, while city folk would find it cheaper to pay fuel duty,

Robin Linacre, London, UK

The Government is claiming this will solve the privacy issues. It won't. Just because the current Government decides not to use the 'black boxes' to discern the location of each and every vehicle does not mean a future one will continue that policy. Once installed this technology, like identity cards cannot be undone. It operates on the assumption that all Government is benign and benevolent. I do not believe the current Government fits this description; I have little confidence in the ability of any future one, whatever its political hue.

H Cole, London,

Why can't the cost of fuel be raised to pay for vehicle useage?
If you have a larger car or travel more miles you pay more, and it does'nt involve any black boxes or additional infrastructure.
Unless the government want to track us there can be no justification for the proposed system.

Kevin Theobald, London,

Haha...fantastic news.

Just move out..surely by now the rose tint on those UK spectacles is wearing off.

Keith, Chegwin, Strasbourg

Great idea and simple to operate.

Robert Kemp, Hull,

What I cannot understand is this. If this charge is going to be stolen from us for alleviating congestion, what is the justification for applying a charge for the use of non congested rural roads?

Basically this is is just another way of extracting money from the generally law abiding section of society. It is time that the electorate woke up to the fact that Blair and Brown are turning this country into a living hell. I was once proud to serve this country in the armed forces. Now I detest britain and unfortunately have not got the money to get out.

P Radford, Scunthorpe, N Lincs

so we will aslo incur the dreaded vat on top of this stealth tax on drivers, when will our goverment remember, that it is the general public that put them in the parliment. If politicians keep up the relentless persecution of drivers, then thay will lose there positions.

G.Gale, Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria

So, if you live on a boundary between dense housing and not so dense housing, or on the edge of countryside you get a double or triple whammy straight away. We were born free, next thing we'll be having microchips put into us at birth as guaranteed future tax revenue for the state.

Chris, Lichfield, UK

Surely the way forward to reducing congestion is to increase public transport and make it more affordable so that the public would use it. Charging people to travel will not reduce the number of cars on the roads - it just increases the amount of money the government receives. I, for one, would have to use my car to travel to work simply because there is no public transport for me to use.

D Bolton, Byfleet, England

It is with increasing increduluity that I read these reports.Are these ministers really living in the real world? Given the choice,who would,in all honesty,choose to drive into ANY city/town centre? Isn't the so called congestion charge just really another stealth tax for the beleagured motorist?
I,for one,had occasion to travel to London recently,so I chose the train.Because it was in 'peak hours' (why are the prices higher these times when trains are always full,as opposed to uneconomic off peak,half-empty trains?).
The fare was astronomical,notwithstanding you're not even guaranteed a seat,that I seriously considered getting in my car,paying the London charge,and still have at least half my train fare still in my pocket.
I would suggest this would be the first area for consideration before 'zoning' charges.

Timothy Snell, Swindon, England

Bring back the horse!!!

Hitching posts in the parks and free manure for the gardeners (or pooper scoopers).

Sandra Lowden, Wellington, New Zealand

Mr. Ladyman expects road pricing to be introduced around 2015. Does he really expect that this incompetent, taxing, control freak government will still be in power then.
Nick of Winchester going to the shops on a bicycle might be laudable when you are single, however when you have a family you will find that it is impossible to manage the weekend shopping or most other activities without using your car.I would also suggest that quite a few parents are using their cars to transport their children to school and then going on to work. I quite often walk 4 k into our local town and back but I certainly wouldn't do it with a couple of kids in tow.
If the likes of Mr Ladyman were really serious about reducing congestion perhaps he can explain the new policy on school admissions that could result in somebody living next door to a school having to travel 3/4 miles while somebody else is comimg in the opposite direction. Check the volume of traffic during school holidays it drops dramatically.

jeff cox, Conifer Grove, New Zealand

"2 miles Maximum distance of one in four car journeys"

I wonder how many commenters will focus on this point. I am in my early 20's and plan on holding off a car purchase for as long as I can manage, and using my bike and the train for longer journeys (very expensive, but given the lower frequency less overall than a car, I'll bet).

I am sure there are many for whom this set up isn't practical, but I'm even more certain - with a statistic like that one - that there are many, many people who would manage and even benefit by getting on bikes and cycling to work, school, the shops, etc.

Nick, Winchester,

I couldn't agree more with R.J. Shorter. And not only that, but with petrol hovering around £5 a gallon (most of it tax), discretionary driving must be only a tiny fraction of the total (and not conducted in rush-hours). So in addition to the billions levied in road charges, we'll still be stuck with the billions inflicted by congestion. I can't believe that the peddlers of this nonsense don't see that - it's clearly just the "Poll-Tax on Wheels".

Ken Leyland, Liverpool, U.K.

This will involve millions of cameras on poles or local trips, especially rural ones, will be free.
This new suggestion seems much more about increasing taxation on the motorist and much less about congestion solutions- which is similar to many other Government gambits: Stern.

The only solution is to build better roads and a better transport system a solution that the Government has lamently failed to acheive.

DMM, Eastbourne, UK

I have an idea that will cut congestion. Remove all the width restrictors, make pavement 10ft wide not 30ft, re-phase traffic light so they aren't showing 10s green and 90s red, raise recent reductions in speed limits back to the original limits, re-surface the roads properly so you don't keep coning them off every year, remove bus lanes on dual carriage ways....In other words, get rid of Labour's deliberate congestion causing devices. So long as Labour insist on tolls I won't be vote for them or their councillors

martin, London, UK

We keep being told how many hours each week the average motorist spends in traffic jams, or that the economic damage inflicted by congestion is so many £ billions. But these figures are always against a totally unrealistic base-line of zero congestion. A more meaningful comparison would be against the possible alternatives. For almost all journies (except commuting to a city centre) travelling by car, even with the congestion, is quicker than public transport or walking. It is also safer, more pleasant, and often cheaper. So, please, no more meaningless statistics that try to compare reality with utopia.

R J Shorter, Rayleigh, Essex, England