Like many people here in the UK I spend a lot of my time driving to meetings, the shops and generally getting around. I tend not to touch public transport unless I’m going to London in which case I’ll catch the GNER or a plane. But the recent Downing Street petition against road pricing got me thinking, so here’s my two cent’s on the subject.

It seems the Government has a plan – put a little black box in everybody’s car and then charge them for using the roads on a pay-per-use basis.

This to me is a bit rich. Firstly, we’ve paid for the roads through years of taxation and secondly, the roads are too congested for me to even contemplate paying for what I consider a second rate ’service’.

However, something needs to be done if we’re going to reduce congestion and keep the roads in great condition for those of us who actually enjoy driving.

My Solution

Well, here’s my starter for 10. It’s not based on any research, just the idea’s I’ve had while heading up and down the M1 over the past 10 years:

• Introduce an additional petrol tax of say 5p per litre.
• Ring-fence this additional money for the specific purpose of road improvements and road building.
• Abolish road tax, taking with it the huge number of civil servants that currently manage it. This includes all those road tax ‘detector’ vans and the need for tax discs.
• Use the money saved here for more road improvements.
• Rely on an annual electronically submitted MOT certificate confirming a car is road worthy – fine those garages fiddling the system.
• Target the 2 million or so ‘illegal’ cars on UK roads – thereby reducing congestion – annual MOT’s will reveal who these people are and where their cars are.

That’s it, no expensive technology, no intrusive devices, and a leaner, greaner government machine with a hand’s-off light touch approach to its citizens – perfect.