Why to be a Motorist in B

The personal webspace of James Dunn

For the first time ever, it now costs £50 to fill up my car with petrol - and this is at the cheapest place. Prices are now at 89.9p per litre, which although better than two weeks ago (where they were over £1 per litre) is still completely unrealistic. To put this in perspective, I sometimes work over the summer earning around £5 per hour. This means it would take me 10 hours to earn enough to fill the tank. Now I complain, but imagine how hard it would be for someone who makes a living earning on a minimum wage job.

In addition to this, motoring expenses have hit an all time high. An MOT this year costs £45 where it used to cost £40, and tax for six months costs £95 where it used to cost £80. I've also got to be especially careful that I'm not going to get caught but one of the all too common speed cameras which seem to have doubled in number since I've been back from the States.

However, what annoys me most is that for every £50 that I put in my car, around £33 goes on tax straight to the government, and what do we really see for it? The decline in service and quality of the national rail network has been well documented, and in London, the congestion charge has increased to £8 and a single bus ride costs over £1. The only noticeable difference on the road so far as I can see is the increased number of speed traps.

I could go on but I think you get the point - it seems the government has declared war on the motorist.

Posted on September 22, 2005 19:23 | Add Comment →