Road pricing ‘more unpopular than Gordon Brown’
Prime minister Gordon Brown can take some comfort from the fact that he is more popular than congestion charging, one organisation has claimed.
Car bulb customers may be interested to learn that, according to the Association of British Drivers (ABD), just 60,000 people have signed a Downing Street petition calling on the PM to resign, compared to the 1.8 million who petitioned against road pricing plans in 2007.
The ABD is now calling on the government to drop all road pricing plans and stop "twisting the arm of local authorities" by promising investment in return for congestion charging.
ABD chairman Brian Gregory commented: "It’s an unfair, regressive tax on necessary car journeys, it harms local businesses and it works against urban renewal programmes by encouraging people to live, work and shop away from city centres."
A new £1.4 billion public transport package was unveiled in Manchester recently, despite officials previously claiming that investment plans would be cut unless the public voted yes to congestion charging, the Manchester Evening News reports.
