News CLICKY

Sorry, his credibility just dropped like a stone IMO.
I pay road tax, fuel duty, VAT on the fuel, and VAT on the fuel duty to be on the road. If he thinks I'm paying tolls to go on the road as well he can forget it.
Sure it's only new roads, but as the population goes up you'll be forced onto those as the old free ones will be even more congested.

Maybe I misread but 'new' (as in the A14 example) could mean an existing road that has been widened.

W*nker. The reason we have private water companies is basically because of Thatcher.

As above, the taxes we are charged as motorists should be used entirely for the roads. I'd advocate speedcamera charges should used for the same thing.

This is a classic distraction ploy to try and throw attention away from the NHS Bill going through the House of Lords tomorrow.

How do I get out of this chicken sh*t outfit?

Very much so.

At this point in time, there is simply not a political party worth voting for in this country.

Game over, man. Game over!

So this is just going to be an extension of what is all ready happening. Many city and county councils have handed over highway maintenance and repair to private companies.

Yeah, and the local road networks have obviously benefitted greatly from the increased efficiency of private enterprise,

(NOTE: Sarcasm)

" The public don't much like anything that smacks of privatising that which they already think they own -although the experience of the water industry shows that once it's happened people shrug their shoulders and get on with their lives"

Nick Robinson there, I just hope he's wrong... The bullsh1t of water rates is certainly a point of contention here in Ulster. And it's the same deal, investment in infrastructure that SHOULD have been paid for with taxes was just never made, but that doesn't matter when you can set up a cosy wee deal. Potentially with friends and backers

The coalition is basically using the downturn to privatise just about everything.

It very much sounds like "If we starve xyz of enough funds, we can claim we can't cope and it needs privatising". Millions should have been spent on the roads by now and certainly if every penny of the fuel and road tax was actually spent on the roads, we wouldn't be in this situation. Instead it's being used to subsidise other things.

The launch of the Galileo satellites and all the ANPR sensors that have sprouted up just about everywhere have been put in place in readiness for pay by mile.

It's just around the corner, there will be no escape.

With the push for alternative energy sources (electric vehicles) and the subsequent drop in VED and taxation on fossil fuels, the government (ANY (uk) government) needs a way to keep fleecing the populace.

Welcome to 2012

Welcome to the forums, I suspect you're onto something there...

Welcom to the Forum's

Actually I have nothing against pay by mile. We have it to some extent with Fuel Duty. VED in theory is for the buildig / maintenance of the roads but that link has been removed for years. If VED was scrapped and a pay by mile introduced then provided it was set at a reasonable level I would ahve no isues with it

I'd say the roads in portsmouth have benifited massively since a private contractor got the contract for the roads. More roads are being repaired than the council ever did. There is a better control of repairs, its not all good but its a hell of a lot better than it was.
As ever its all in how its done.
Just becasuse private enterprise is involved doesnt mean that its bad.