The Telegraph can disclose that the Government is pushing ahead with plans for a national road-pricing scheme, including testing "spy in the sky" technology.
Eight areas of the country have been selected by ministers for secret pay-per-mile trials which will begin in 2010 and are expected to pave the way for tolls on motorways.
Motorists face paying up to £1.30 a mile during peak periods on the busiest roads.
Gordon Brown was thought to be against national road pricing, a flagship policy of the Blair administration.
But the detailed level of planning now underway indicates the issue it set to become a key battleground in the next general election – which is likely to coincide with the trials beginning.
It will leave Ruth Kelly, the Transport Secretary, particularly vulnerable as she defends her marginal Bolton West constituency.
The Daily Telegraph has learnt that eight areas - Leeds, North Yorkshire, Milton Keynes and Buckinghamshire, south west London, Suffolk and Essex – have been selected for the trials.
Initially, in January 2010, one hundred cars in each area will trial the new technology – in many cases entailing placing black boxes to allow their movements to be tracked - but members of the public will be invited to join the pilots in June 2010.
The Government is close to signing contracts with four companies who will run the national trials, testing not only the technology which will be fitted to the cars, but also the bureaucracy needed to run a system including sending out bills.
In most cases, the trials will involve a satellite tracking a vehicle's movements. Motorists will then receive a monthly or weekly bill which will vary depending on when and where they drove.
Three more companies will be paid to double check the system, ensuring that the charging machinery is legal and that the trials are properly monitored.
I'm sorry ... do you really, really think that this is only about road charging, even if you assume that road charging is a good idea?
Do you really, really think that this isn't going to up the number of speeding fines issued a million-fold?
Do you really, really think that people aren't going to be criminalised by all these fines?
Do you really, really think the police aren't going to be sniffing through your travel records?
Do you really, really think that they aren't going to make the usual Mongolian clusterfuck out of this and that people aren't going to be overbilled and then criminalised for not being able to pay?
Do you really, really think that people will not be given incorrect speeding fines for that matter?
Do you really, really think that it's going to stop at £1.30 per mile?
Do you really, really think that it's going to be cheaper than or the same price as VED?
Enough, really, is enough.
Do not let this pass into law, folks. You will regret it forever.
1 comment:
Once they have us all chipped, they can charge passengers too.
I don't care how deep they implant it, I'll dose myself with whisky and dig it out.
Maybe stick it to the bottom of a seat on the Circle Line? They'll get dizzy following that one around.
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