Fuel-efficient cars will be charged the same as “gas guzzlers” to drive on Britain’s roads under controversial plans unveiled yesterday by Britain’s transport secretary [minister] Alistair Darling, the Daily Telegraph reported.
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Darling, who announced proposals for motorists to pay according to when and where they drove, reportedly made clear that he opposed varying the rate according to the car itself.
“Having different rates for different cars would add an additional complexity,” Darling said. “There are other things we can do to encourage people to drive environmentally-friendly cars.”
The paper said the transport secretary insisted that he was not looking to “pile taxes upon taxes”, but would not commit a future Government to scrapping vehicle excise duty or fuel levies in the event that road charging was introduced.
The Daily Telegraph said Darling’s refusal to vary the road-pricing regime according to the green credentials of the vehicle drew criticism from the environmental lobby yesterday.
Stephen Joseph, director of Transport 2000, told the paper: “We want the mileage rate for ‘gas guzzlers’ to be twice or even three times that for ‘greener’ vehicles, to provide a very clear incentive for drivers to buy less polluting vehicles.”
Joseph’s concern reportedly was shared by Alan Duncan, the shadow [opposition] transport secretary, who said: “If a Mini pays the same as a Bentley, it would be an environmental disaster.”
In his speech to the Social Market Foundation in London, Darling insisted that “doing nothing” was not an option if Britain was to avoid gridlock in 15-20 years’ time, the Daily Telegraph said.
He reportedly sought to reassure motorists that the maximum charge of £1.34 a mile – for the busiest stretches of the most congested urban roads – would be paid by no more than 0.5% of drivers.
According to a Department of Transport study motorists on quiet rural roads would pay as little as 2p a mile, should a road charging scheme come into force, the paper added.
Darling said he wanted one or two trials of the road pricing scheme to start in five years with full implementation in 10 to 15 years.
