The Times newspaper...

The Times newspaper has finally woken up to this fact. The main story on its front page on 30 December 2003 was entitled "Speed camera curbs to halt driver backlash". And on 1 January 2004, the broadsheet came back for more, devoting over half its front page to cynical motoring fines. Stories about a murdered policeman, war on terror and other domestic and international events played second fiddle to the plight of UK car occupants, many of whom are now in danger of being priced out of their vehicles - not by manufacturers, but by politicians punch drunk on power and making money.

I"ve been fighting for ripped-off motorists for more than a decade now, as motoring editor of the Sun, News of the World and lately, the Daily Mirror - as well as writing every week for Auto Express. It"s almost a year to the day since the Mirror allowed me to say that I was declaring war on London Mayor Ken Livingstone - Godfather of the congestion charge. And it"s less than a month since I gave warning in this very column that if the RAC Foundation continues to "welcome" (its words, not mine) additional charges on routes like the M6 Toll, carte blanche will be handed to those in power to "introduce direct charges in other parts of the country" (my words, not its).

The late realisation from yet another broadsheet that car users are being persecuted and robbed came on 2 January when the entire front page of the Independent concentrated on a story which read "Suburban drivers to face tolls in congestion charge shake-up". The paper claimed that charging, previously reserved for Durham and London, is ready to spread to suburbia. Existing charges like the M25 Dartford Crossing and M6 Toll will pale into insignificance when we"re forced to pay for using residential roads in London suburbs, and the fringes of who knows how many other cities and towns?

If, as the Independent predicts, the authorities get this latest revenue-raising racket off the ground, Britain will become the only place in the world to charge directly and widely at the point of use for driving on non-motorway roads. If and when that happens, I"ll be emigrating along with, I suspect, thousands of other members of the 30 million-strong car user club. The Treasury will lose billions as hard-working people sell up and move themselves and their wealth to other countries. The UK will lose out big time, courtesy of greedy but short-sighted politicians. In trying to drive us off the road, those in power are in real danger of driving us out of the British Isles.