Motorists Voice
Shouting for the rights of road users
+44 (0)845 833 8291
press@motoristsvoice.org.uk
www.motoristsvoice.org.uk
Press Release: Motorists Find Voice
New Year • New Era • New Voice
The New Year sees the launch of the Motorists Voice, an organisation aiming to represent the interests and opinion of the motoring majority, at a time when the public outrage at the system is growing, with the issue of road taxation and motorist rights being at the forefront of debate.
Founded by a group of concerned individuals, including business owners and private motorists, the Motorists Voice will advocate genuine concerns that motorists are disadvantaged both financially and in their basic rights, by ill-conceived government policies. The group will aim to initially campaign about the following issues:
1. Road Taxation / Charges
2. Road Safety
3. Public Transport
Launch Campaign: Opposition to the Proposed Road Taxation Scheme (The Six Billion Pound Rip-Off)
Motorists Voice will campaign against the proposed road taxation scheme advocated by both Labour and Conservative parties.
At present the government propose to make mandatory a requirement to install a 'black box' to all vehicles, and is presently estimated to cost around £200*. Owners will need to finance the cost themselves apparently with no aid from government subsidies.
Once installed, the 'black box' will then use satellite tracking to monitor the location and movements of motorists - a serious and legally questionable invasion of privacy, infringing basic human rights. This will also monitor how fast drivers have been going, so anyone accidentally creeping over a speed limit can expect a NIP with their monthly bill.
It is worth noting that there are 32.9 million licensed vehicles in the UK in 2006, and a simple calculation reveals that approximately £6 billion will be going to the companies who will manufacture the devices and to pay for their fitting - not to the benefit of any road user, nor the transport network or environment. In fact taxation in this form will actually be environmentally counterproductive (see notes section on page 3).
Furthermore, each motorist will then be charged up to £1.30 per mile for any journey they make, - inevitably adding tens and hundreds of pounds of charges to their monthly outgoings**. Below please find highlights from some recent BBC research on these costs:
* A mother taking her children to school each morning: £86 per month
* A rural farm worker: £100 per month
* The average office worker: £500 per month
No doubt the collection of these charges will be awarded to 'private companies' and, if it works like the toll-roads over bridges, over 90p in the pound will go directly to the collection company. The voice believes it is not the job of the British Government to ensure such massive profits for private companies or to hand them the public as a captive clientele with no other option but to pay-up.
Not only will these dramatic taxation charges result in high levels of unemployment from those unable to commute to work, but they will also see many businesses forced to close - road haulage companies (already taxed to the brink), taxis and driving schools are just some of those likely to see unaffordable tax demands as a result of the policy.
Consultants and sole traders will not be able to absorb the increased outgoings, and will not be able to pass these onto their customers. Inevitably they will be left with no option but to become unemployed and a further burden to other tax-payers.
Furthermore the effect of the taxation on transportation costs means it that even small-medium non-transport dependant businesses are not safe. They are likely to suffer from a knock-on effect and will have to fund increased monthly overheads as a result of higher prices from suppliers such as couriers, and their own travel costs. Inevitably this will lead to redundancies.
What's more, it will not just be motorists that are affected by the scheme. With the UK rail and bus services already notorious worldwide for poor service and high prices, commuters will be alarmed at the proposals by these companies to raise the prices of fares, with the suspected motive being to make profits from the large numbers forced to turn to public transport following unaffordable motoring costs.
The founding members of Motorists Voice believe that if the taxation goes ahead, this will cause mass-unemployment and damage throughout the economy. A considerable percentage of the population simply will not be able to afford to get to or undertake their work any longer. The overall effect this will have on the economy could be disastrous and might even be enough to push the UK into another deep recession.
Along side the above car crime is also likely to increase both in avoidance and car theft, as the criminal fraternity may simply steal a car if they have a long journey to make. This is no great step, not so long ago they were stealing cars just for the petrol or the fun. Under intense financial pressure this will simply encourage more people to drive cars that are unlicensed, which will also therefore be uninsured and without MOT, possibly unsafe leading to increased accident rates.
The level of interest shown by the outraged public is illustrated by the vast number of signatories on a government petition website which at the time of writing this release, had over 200,000 registered names agreeing to oppose this new scheme. Site may be found at this link:
http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/traveltax
The Founding Members:
Chris Skelton is a Cambridge-based classic car enthusiast who will be forced to scrap some of his wonderful historic cars if this legalisation comes into force. Simon Roberts is a self-employed engineering consultant based in the South West UK who would not be able to work or afford to travel and see his child if this legislation goes ahead, he has never been unemployed in his life. Dale Bradley is the owner of two small businesses in the South East UK employing 8 staff, he would need to financially restructure due to increases in carriage costs increasing charges to the public and may need to make staff redundant if this legislation goes forward. Joe Ibrahim is a small business owner based in the North East who would suffer significantly increased sales-team / travel costs to the point where he might have to make staff redundant and increase charges to his customers.
Membership:
The Motorists Voice is inviting any concerned citizen, public transport users, motorists and non-motorists alike, to become a member and give voice to their opinion on issues such as the taxation debate outlined above.
Costing only £14.99 per year, or £9.99 per year for concessionaries it is a small price to pay in order to stand up and fight the highly suspect policies that the UK government is planning to enact, and may end up in saving each member hundreds of pounds in tax savings.
To become a member of Motorists Voice, simply visit the website:
www.motoristsvoice.org.uk
Notes To Editors:
To arrange interviews with the founding members in your area about the effects this proposed tax would have upon them, or for any other information, please contact the press office. For breaking news as it happens please visit the website at
www.motoristsvoice.org.uk
Motorists Voice is offering an exclusive concessionary membership to all press - simply visit the Join Now section of the website, enter your details and select 'Press' from the concessionary menu. Please enter your publication as your Concessionary ID.
Press Contacts:
E-mail:
press@motoristsvoice.org.uk
Tel: 0845 833 8291
General Enquiries:
E-mail:
info@motoristsvoice.org.uk
Tel: 0845 833 8294
Membership Enquiries:
E-mail:
membership@motoristsvoice.org.uk
Tel: 0845 833 8294
NOTES: Why this move will actually be environmentally counterproductive.
A current energy-efficient car will achieve maybe 50mpg, which equates to about 10p per mile. Conversely a 5 litre gas-guzzler will maybe achieve 15mpg on the same run, which equates to 33p per mile. The difference here is over 300%, which is huge.
If however you add 134p per mile as a fixed charge, the costs become as follows;
Energy-efficient 144p
5litre gas-guzzler 167p
The difference here is now less than 16%, half of the above. This is simply taxing the poor and rewarding the wealthy for driving larger vehicles. Ultimately it will lead consumers to do the mental equation as follows; "I can drive a boring slow shoebox, and save myself no more than 16%. Nuts, for the difference I might as well pay the extra and have some fun!"
The ONLY fair way to penalise heavy fuel users is to directly target the fuel use by charging more for the fuel. Higher consumption = higher cost. Simple. Unfortunately we already have some of the highest fuel costs in Europe, any more will destroy our industry.
Furthermore this move will destroy Britain's unique motoring heritage.
Nowhere else do you see so many classic cars actually driven on the road. Not every day, probably just in the summer or maybe coming out a just few times a year, and maybe not every year. They aren't all Aston Martins owned by the gentry either. You don't have to be rich to run an old car, and it doesn't have to be expensive to be loved. Many in governments forget you just have to love it and look after it. So imagine the cost of the extra kit to be added to every classic car, and the subscription. it will force most of them off the road permanently and remove yet another ray of sunshine from many people's lives.
Some argue that classic cars are less efficient; this may be true, it's worthwhile to actually compare average economy figures for the last thirty years... ... Unleaded? Many are perfectly fine with unleaded, even many classic high performance cars which weren't designed for it as such. The only possible penalty in the worst case is engine wear, which once again is the owners problem.
Others maintain that older vehicles are less 'environmentally friendly'; this is rubbish; far more fuel is used to manufacture a car in the first place than it ever burns in its life, and the process is far nastier in terms of pollution and greenhouse gases. These manufacturing factors are worse for current cars, full of electronics, and with the catalyst ironically being the most environmentally damaging thing to make.
Environmentally the best thing would be to keep cars on the road longer (well maintained of course,) and this also affords benefits economically and psychologically.
* Source the BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4167347.stm
** Source the Guardian
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/ ... 80,00.html
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