A war on the motorist.
The war on the motorist is a myth and fuel taxes should be raised without delay, a left of centre think tank has said in a report published today.
As soon as I see the term “think tank” my hackles rise. These are redundant organisations that we would do well to cull. A rise in petrol duty would be detrimental to the economy and squeeze yet further the commuter and the haulage business, not to mention the couriers and everyone else who relies on petrol and diesel to get about. We cannot all just switch to other modes of transport and it is not always practicable. Indeed, I work much of my time in the rail industry and would promote its use wherever I could; however, I often find myself driving to clients because it simply is not possible to get where I want to go by rail.
I had a classic example of this a few weeks back. Network Rail have upgraded one of the courses I deliver and I was required to attend an update event at Paddock Wood. They advised travelling by rail as parking was limited. Given that I am in Bristol and the course was starting a 09:00, a quick check of the timetables told me that there wasn’t a train that started out early enough to get me there on time. So, the motorcycle it was, then.
Which is fine as far as I am concerned – I will use what is the most practicable and cost efficient for the journey. Sometimes, those choices are limited by circumstances. When I read this kind of claptrap, then:
Drivers, the IPPR says, are in a far easier position, because they can cut their motoring costs by using more fuel efficient cars and cutting out unnecessary journeys.
I know that I am dealing with politically driven cretins. I’ll just nip out and buy another vehicle, shall I? Oh, yeah, that’s right; I cannot afford to, given my current circumstances. Perhaps I should have set out the night before and cycled? But I couldn’t get all of my kit onto a push-bike. Was it a necessary journey? Well, if I want to continue to be licensed to deliver the course, it was.
I am, therefore, a hostage to fortune and these nasty, evil little shits want to punish me for making those choices. Fuel is already far too expensive as it is taxed to the hilt. The chancellor should not be increasing fuel duty, he should be reducing it or better still, removing it in its entirety.
Sure, I understand that the exchequer is pressed for cash – the money was squandered by his predecessors; the very morons this think tank supports. They need to do something about it. There is a simple answer to that – far more simple than me buying a Toyota Pious; slash the size of government and reduce our taxes.
“Compared to users of public transport, there is no war on motorists,” said Will Straw, the IPPR’s associate director.
“Rail and bus users have seen fares spiral out of control while the cost of driving has actually fallen over the last decade.”
I’ve read some unmitigated bollocks in my time, but this one is competing for turd of the year – of course there is a war on the motorist and the IPPR is right there holding up the colours in the forefront of the charge. Driving costs have increased dramatically over the time that I have been driving and continue to do so. To suggest that it has fallen is to enter into a fantasy world – or to outright lie. But, then, this is a left-wing think tank. Lying is what we can expect.
“Given the pressures on the public purse, the Chancellor should avoid further delays in fuel duty and think again on rail fare hikes.”
Jackart has an answer to this one that comes straight out of their own logic. Hoist, petard, I think…
So public transport users can’t cut out unnecessary journeys as well, then? Or is it only motorists who ever make them?
I have to say Jackart talks a lot of sense until he gets on to the subject of cycling 😉
Yeah, I know, but I’ll forgive him his quirks 😉
It would be interesting to know what %age of fuel taxes are EU mandated.
I moved to Cyprus before she joined the EU (probably the worst thing she ever did, second only to adopting the €uro). Diesel was €0.22 per litre then – significantly cheaper than in the UK.
After joining the EU diesel was replaced with diesel (for heating), red diesel (for farmers) and Euro diesel (for transport) requiring all petrol stations to dig up their forecourts and fit new tanks. Also presumably requiring some regime for dipping tanks and making sure drivers aren’t running heating diesel… 🙄
So now it costs €1.40 per litre to fill the Pajero up – not that much behind the price in the UK… 😡
“left of centre think tank?” Well they may be that, but more importantly, it’s government lobbying itself again. From their “how we’re funded” page
European Commission – our taxes
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Network Rail – conflict of interest? And our taxes again.
European Commission Representation in the UK – why they’re separate from the ‘European Commission’ I’ve no idea.
East of England Development Agency
Bradford City Council – our taxes – and I’m sure they’d be more than welcome to get more money from petrol taxes
Liverpool City Council – ditto
Newcastle City Council – ditto
Wakefield Council – ditto
Oxfam – fake charity
Other notables:
African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Observatory on Migration – WTF?
Shell
BP
I’m sure there’s more there; that was just a quick skim.
Ahhhhh Will Straw, the coward’s grandson, war criminal’s son, sometime cannabis dealer and professional gobshite. I’ll take this thank tank’s report with an RDA of salt.
I did wonder if it was that Straw. Even more reason to treat it with utter contempt.
How come Straw gets jobs with Quango’s?
Motorists who pay several times more than their form of transport costs and hence pay into the government coffers are the bad guys. Public transport users pay less than what their form of transport costs and are drawing from the government coffers are the good guys. Riiight.
OK thought experiment. What if public transport users, instead of being subsidised, were taxed in the same way that motorists are taxed. How much would a train ticket for a journey of, say twenty miles, cost then? My guess is over a thousand quid.
It depends which lines you’re talking about and how you calculate the subsidy and who exactly benefits from it, a subject that stretches far better minds than mine to the limit. Buses, trains and planes pay a much lower fuel duty than cars, something that is rarely mentioned by those who claim that motorists get a better deal. In the case of buses at least I don’t think this is necessarily a bad thing as they are predominantly used by the less well off. It’s also the case that a reduction in fuel tax is not actually a subsidy simply a case of the state deciding to take a smaller cut, which is such a rarity it ought to be encouraged ! That argument applies equally to all transport modes of course.
The thing is, you call them cretins but the arguments presented by IPPR on this are so completely unconsidered and wrong that to employ a cretin to come up with them would probably improve them.
Can you imagine the scene in Ed Miliband’s office when these idiots walk in? “Hey Ed, we’ve got a great new strapline for the next election : Vote Labour and we’ll stick fuel and motoring taxes up through the roof”
How’s that one going to work for you Ed? I bet Miliband wishes he had a wicker man to put these stupid tossers into today.
The world of car ownership is fast receding into the distance as a forlorn dream.
XX Rail and bus users have seen fares spiral out of control XX
Ähhh, not to cover the increased fuel cost imposed by too much tax perchance?
Fucking dipshit twats. If I can see the link at this time of day, and after a bottle of Lambs navy rum, then I am sure THEY must deliberately “turning a blind eye” to the obvious.
How refreshingly origional. 🙄
A load of the usual anti-rail bollocks being talked by some of the posters here, I note.
We have the most expensive railways in Europe – thank you Tory (& Liebour) guvmints for nothing.
I do note that one of the usayul complret CRAP lines is being pushed by this think-wank though, anout buying a newr more fuel-efficient car>
Which takes NO ACCOUNT of the environmental costs of: making a new one & scrapping the old one.
Some of us have made the decision, quite deliberately, to stick with the one they have.
Mine, for instance – last model made with NO ELECTRONICS, so I can do at least 90% of maintenance myself, & I expect it to last until I’m no longer capable of driving – after which I hope it will find a new owner.
But then, it IS a 110″ Land-Rover!
The late – and much lamented – Auberon Waugh called them ‘wank tanks.’
There’s an excellent rebuttal by Chris Snowdon at the ASI here.
“Compared to users of public transport….” There’s the get out clause. “Yes, there is a war on motorists, but not as big a war as there is on public transport users”, is what he should have said, if he thinks that people who use public transport are getting a bad deal.
Sorry to be OT but there is something that keeps bugging me and Longrider seems to be the guy to ask. What do you teach learner riders regarding putting their feet on their footrests? The reason that I ask is that I see a huge number of riders who set off and proceed for the first twenty metres or so with one or both feet just above the ground before finally putting them up on the footrests. Speaking for myself, I put my feet up the second that my bike is rolling, I put a foot down only when I actually stop. When I did some IAM training the subject never came up so I assume that I was doing it right.
When you come to a stop, left foot down, heel first then toe. Cover the brake with the right foot. Pulling away, right foot still covering the brake and left foot straight up onto the footrest as soon as the machine is moving.
If you need to select neutral while stationary, do the Hendon shuffle.
O.K. It has been answered, but having been away for the wekend, I missed it.
My trainer; “Get those fucking feet on the pegs befor I cut them bloody off, laddie!”
I think that was rather clear on the point.
So why the hell are so many motorcylists and scooterists doing it wrong? If only they could know how stupid they look.
Worse are the scooterists who think it is cool to stick their leg out when cornering. I pointed out to one student who tried it while out on the road with me that a leg in plaster was definitely not cool.
LR, the only people who don’t put their feet straight on the pegs after pulling away lack confidence as riders. At least that was the wisdom imparted to me when I first put leg across saddle.
Quite so and those of us who do have confidence will happily hold the machine virtually stationary with both feet up.