Bedford Driving Lessons

Taxpayers have spent nearly £50 million on the Government’s plans to introduce pay as you drive charging for motorists, it has emerged. Despite announcing that national road pricing is off the agenda for the foreseeable future, the Department for Transport has also spent £7.2 million on “demonstration” projects, testing the technology. This is on top of £23.6 million the DfT used to persuade major urban areas to introduce some form of charging scheme by pouring money into the local economy. The only city, outside London, to consider this option to date has been Greater Manchester. But the plans were scrapped after being overwhelmingly rejected in a referendum. And this was only after the Government spent £16.1 million in an attempt to get the scheme off the ground. A number of places, including Cambridgeshire, Leeds, the Thames Valley and Bristol are reported to be considering some form of pricing. But with the exception of Cambridgeshire, no plans have been submitted. Even the embryonic Cambridgeshire scheme is facing fierce opposition and has yet to win Government backing. Although national charging has been ditched the Cabinet Office produced a report last month in which it still nurtured hopes that some form of road pricing should be considered as a way of tackling congestion. More