AA comments on reported plans for road pricing

Following reports in The Times that the Treasury is considering introducing road pricing to plug the budget shortfall as the nation switches to electric cars, Edmund King, AA president, said: “While the push toward electric vehicles is good for the environment, it is not good for the Exchequer.

“The Government can’t afford to lose £40bn from fuel duty and car tax when the electric revolution arrives. It is always assumed that Road Pricing would be the solution but that has been raised every five years since 1964 and is still perceived by most as a ‘poll tax on wheels’.

“We need a more imaginative solution and have proposed ‘Road Miles’** whereby every driver gets 3000 free miles, with one third more for those in rural areas, and then a small charge thereafter.

“Combined with commercialising the roads with an adopt a highway scheme with naming rights such as the Minecraft M1, Manchester Utd M6 or Adidas A1, this should be prove a more popular solution.”