Road Tolls Would Be A 'Poll Tax On Wheels'

Introducing further road tolls would be "electoral suicide" and a "poll tax on wheels", motoring campaigners have warned the Government.

Motorists will not stomach any further charges on the cost of driving on top of the already high vehicle tax and the soaring cost of fuel, they cautioned.

And they said that a massive political backlash would be meted out at the polls, if the coalition pushed ahead with proposals to charge drivers to use roads.

A Whitehall feasibility study, which will look at whether it is possible for private companies to own new roads, is due to report in the New Year.

It has also been suggested the coalition's mid-term review will include reforms allowing private firms to charge motorists to use new major roads.

The Department for Transport insisted that it was not considering breaching a commitment to restrict tolls to new major roads or those upgraded "literally beyond all recognition".

Peter Roberts of the Alliance of British Drivers said there would be a massive backlash from voters - pointing to his 2007 petition against nationwide road pricing which attracted 1.3 million signatures.

Road tolls are levied on the M6 at Birmingham

"I think people have made their views on road tolling, road pricing, very very clear. I think it would be electoral suicide...kind of like the poll tax on wheels.

"Most drivers already believe they are paying too much for the roads," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

AA president Edmund King said: "Drivers don't like paying more taxes, but our research suggests they don't want the roads privatised or have to pay tolls and access charges."

He added: "The Government needs to go back to the drawing board or they could end up with a poll tax on wheels."

Robert Oxley, campaign manager of the TaxPayers' Alliance said: "Hard-pressed motorists are already over taxed.

"Introducing new toll charges to use part of Britain's road network would create a two tier system where only the drivers who can afford it would get access to the motorways while the rest of us are stuck on the back roads."

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