Nigel Evans, Member of Parliament for the Ribble Valley, today spoke in defence of motorists in a Westminster Hall Debate that he secured on the subject of the ‘Government’s Policy Towards Motoring’. During the Debate Mr Evans noted that: - Car insurance premiums are rocketing and the average quoted premium for an annual comprehensive car insurance policy rose over the fourth quarter by 7.2 per cent to just over £1,000.
- The average price of petrol at the pumps at the moment is 112p per litre and 114p per litre for diesel and from 1st April the Government could add another 2.5p per litre to the fuel price.
- Speed cameras earn the Government £88 million per year, or approximately £250,000 per day and the number issued each year has doubled under this Labour administration.
- It is estimated that in any one year 10 per cent of motorists are fined or clamped by private contractors in what is becoming an increasingly lucrative industry. The number of vehicles that are clamped has risen by 75 per cent in just the past 19 months, and 2,100 individuals are licensed to clamp.
- Councils received a total of £328 million for on street parking and off street parking fines in 2008-09.
Mr Evans said, “The Government needs to rethink the way it treats motorists rather than hammering with tax after tax or charge after charge. “The cost to the average motorist of running a car has soared in recent years. It has been tacitly implied that motorists are a problem and that is justifiable to clobber them with any tax or charge that we can think up. The fact is that for many people the car is a necessity and not a luxury – a fact that we all seem to have lost sight of. In rural areas in particular, where access to public transport is poor, the car is a fundamental facet of everyday life for families, the elderly and disabled people. “Charge by charge, stealth tax by stealth tax, the Government has created the impression that motoring is wrong. That people ought not to drive and so it is consequently acceptable to charge them increasing amounts of money at every turn. “What cannot go on is the current piecemeal approach. A small rise here, a new charge there. People do not know what they are being charged for, why they are being charged for it and cannot see where the money is being spent. We must have a more transparent system – not revenue streams dressed up as green taxes, speed cameras or clampers.”
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