Whether we’re...

Whether we’re car drivers, bikers or bus and coach users, we each have our corners to fight and are all entitled to our say. And the same is true of truck operators. As with the rest of us, they pay a high price to put their vehicles on the road and keep them running. And judging by the amount of complaints I have heard over the years from the lorry boys and girls – about everything from low profit margins to unfair competition created by foreign-registered vehicles – I always thought they were genuinely hard-up.

The big companies which haul our goods are apparently happy to pour even more billions of pounds into Treasury coffers

But maybe not. Despite the countless billions they’ve already paid to the Government in disgracefully high road user taxes (plus hefty fees/fines to use some existing bridges and roads), the big companies which haul goods are apparently happy to pour even more billions into Treasury coffers.

You would think the HGV brigade would be as opposed to the Government’s proposed pay per mile scheme as we car users are. But that’s not the case. Road pricing has “support from the freight industry”, says Richard Turner, boss of the Freight Transport Association (FTA). One of his other conclusions is that “the intention of road pricing is NOT to raise money but to spread out demand”.Really? Seems blatantly obvious to me that road pricing is an additional and lucrative layer of road tax that’s all about the Government raising extra revenue for itself. Chancellor Gordon Brown’s overall tax take (that’s motoring and other taxes) increased by чЈ25billion in the last year to чЈ423bn, making the Treasury vastly wealthier. Just as his latest, hot-off-the-press threat of another dedicated tax on people who drive to work in their own cars will be about raking in extra, extra taxes for his Government. Or are we talking extra, extra, extra tax?

Returning to the more immediate threat of tolls on our streets, the FTA insists there has been “considerable confusion” about the likely costs to users of such a scheme across England. But I’m not confused. I’ve repeatedly heard it said car owners will pay extra charges of up to чЈ1.34 for every mile they drive. That figure was put forward when Alistair Darling was Transport Secretary, and although he had ample opportunity to do so, he never quashed it.

Even when I offered him a chance to publicly dismiss that frightening figure, he refused. I’ve mentioned чЈ1.34 in magazines, newspapers and on air, and as far as I know, no Government department has complained it’s wrong. So where’s the confusion? Even MPs won’t deny motorists in England (but not Scotland!) will pay the additional as-you-drive toll. And bearing in mind that high figure, I have no doubt that some trucks will be charged pounds rather than pence.

The FTA’s naive assertion that “road pricing is not intended to raise money” couldn’t be more inaccurate. Most, if not all, Governments have robbed drivers in the past. But I believe the current politicians in Westminster, along with their neighbouring congestion charge highwayman (London Mayor Ken Livingstone), have been more adept at nicking cash from car, bike, van and truck users than any previous administration.

Trouble is, while the likes of the FTA, British Chambers of Commerce and RAC Foundation lend their conditional support to Labour’s idea of England-wide tolls which will inevitably give the Treasury more of our money, the Brown-led Government will be encouraged to proceed with its grubby ‘ppm’ swindle. And that’s something the vast majority of road users, us motorists, definitely do not want – or deserve. Discuss here

Mike Rutherford writes for the Times, Daily Telegraph and Independent, presents ITV’s Pulling Power and is founder member of the Motorists’ Association