Get Ready For Road Pricing...........

[ToraToraTora]

https://www.carbuyer.co.uk/consumer-news/303833/uk-government-urged-to-consider-pay-per-mile-road-pricing-to-replace-fuel-duty
Essentially we are being pushed into using electric cars, inevitably that is going to drastically reduce revenue from duty. Replacing VED and fuel duty with road pricing is the fairest and most practical way of doing that. Discuss....

[davebro]

I'm no expert but I think you can plug in a laptop or whatever and alter the readings (gotto know how!). E.g. if the speedo needed to be replaced with a new or pre-used unit there must be a way to restore the correct mileage.

[Old_Geezer]

But I have no intention of buying a road.

If the government intends monitor even where we go the public must surely fight it with all they have. Road pricing is an abomination practiced in less free societies. It isn't a fair way to decide anything, not that governments value fairness when it comes to drivers. This imposition and manipulation increase that we see everywhere needs to be fought at every opportunity. Society is gradually becoming an utter nightmare and folk are letting it occur.

[ToraToraTora]

etch, irrelevant anyway they'll use GPS tracking. It'll be like all the motoring laws. If people are caught tampering they'll be prosecuted. People seem to think that just because some break the law it's not something to progress with. Plod does not go about looking for transgressions, they prosecute the ones they encounter on normal operations. Ok now and again they'll have a push of a certain thing but that's not what they do everyday.

[ToraToraTora]

OG 11:16, I take on board your civil liberties concerns but it's no different to mobile phones now. Road pricing is the simplest and fairest way to replace lost fuel duty etc. All the alternatives are far worse.

[ToraToraTora]

dave; "I'm no expert but I think you can plug in a laptop or whatever and alter the readings " - perhaps but that will be illegal and prosecuted when discovered.

[Old_Geezer]

For years people have been saying VED is unfair. Usage had B all to do with it. And it got even less fair when some idiot started charging different levels on different vehicles, letting some freeloaders off entirely. The first thing they need to do is level road tax take completely, however it is collected. And maybe consider stop overtaxing drivers and use general taxation to pay for the infrastructure. It's an opportunity to stop driver abuse.

[Old_Geezer]

Road pricing is the simple, granted but nowhere near fair, not by a billion miles. Almost any alternative would have to be better.

[Etch]

ToraToraTora, you're MATPBOF: there is no way that GPS tracking is going to be implemented in the short term, they are going to have to go for something simpler (and less controversial, for reasons such as Hopkirk has suggested). Using odometer readings is the way to go.

[davebro]

//Using odometer readings is the way to go.//

Not really practical:
1. They can be altered.
2. Road pricing would not be the same for every road. e.g. driving in cities would cost more.

[THECORBYLOON]

ETCH, fitting larger tyres will show fewer miles unless the odometer is adjusted for that change.

[Etch]

THECORBYLOON - fitting larger tyres (to the extent that they significantly alter the mileage reading) will also cause the speedometer to under-read, which is illegal.

[THECORBYLOON]

I know that but if folk want to save money they only need to make sure they keep an eye on the speedo.

[youngmafbog]

It's quite simple, they will use this: https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/car-news/105413/all-new-cars-to-have-black-box-data-loggers-under-eu-laws

And for cars without the 'black box' they will be clobbered heavily in an unfair way. As usual.

[ToraToraTora]

OG: "Road pricing is the simple, granted but nowhere near fair, not by a billion miles. Almost any alternative would have to be better" - how can it not be fair? Everyone pays for the miles they do when and on what roads, surely that is fair. What alternative is more fair than that?

[Etch]

"EU laws"? No chance of that being accepted in this country then... :-D

[ToraToraTora]

etch: "there is no way that GPS tracking is going to be implemented in the short term," - it's being used now by the insurance companies. Just a short step to use it generally.