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If a couple of crucial decisions expected this May go the wrong way, then road pricing could be on its way to the UK sooner than we think, says Insider
May will be a tense month for us in the fleet business. Two decisions are expected, both of which could seriously add to company costs and waste company time (by which I mean my time).
First we find out which Mayor and associated congestion plan will hit London, followed by Manchester's decision on whether it will impose city-wide congestion charging.
We know about Boris's intention to reform the congestion charge, and Ken's promise to freeze its cost, but there's a troubling section within the transport policy of LibDem candidate Brian Paddick (the ex-copper) we're probably less aware of. He says he'll investigate using the cameras currently snooping on dirty lorries entering the new Low Emission Zone to impose a £10 charge on cars driving into Greater London during rush hour. It's a huge zone, too, effectively starting from the M25. Paddick's unlikely to get in, but there was always a sneaking suspicion in the back of my mind that those clever numberplate readers would be switched to congestion duty; Ken Livingston might see re-election as a chance to pinch Paddick's plan on the basis it's already been planted in people's minds.
Meanwhile Manchester is proposing a similar rush-hour charge to enter the area bordered by the M60. Come 2012 it could cost £2 to drive past that barrier and another £1 to enter the centre. You would also have to pay to get out, and although the plan might fall flat, as similar schemes have done in Edinburgh and Birmingham, I'm still worried we're being prepared for road-pricing.
We all know the Government is keen to push local congestion charge schemes as a way of breaking us in gently to the possibility of road pricing, but road pricing itself was to be in lieu of fuel duty - at least in part, anyway. Yet this way we're paying £1.15 a litre for diesel and still face the possibility of paying to enter cities if we arrive at the wrong time. And not just the centre either - mid-morning visits to industrial estates on the outskirts will cost as well.
I don't want to sound like every other internet ranter, but we really do need some respite here. We're having difficulty enough coping with rocketing fuel prices without having to spend more money and time both paying and making sure we're set up to pay extended congestion charges.
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