You wait ages for your petition, the congestion finally clears and more than three come along together.
1. The most signatures but little time to run.
We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Don't Scrap the planned vehicle tracking and road pricing policy.
http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/TRACK-CARS/
Submitted by Tim Lewis – Deadline to sign up by: 11 March 2007 – Signatures: 2,203
2. Recommended.
We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Introduce road pricing nationwide and channel the money into improving public transport and conditions for walking and cycling.
http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/yes2roadpricing/
Submitted by Greg King – Deadline to sign up by: 07 November 2007 – Signatures: 1,051
3. We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to To abolish road tax in favour of the new vehicle tracking and road pricing policy.
http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Banroadtax/
Submitted by R Graham – Deadline to sign up by: 16 July 2007 – Signatures: 37
4. We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to go ahead with the road pricing policy, and invest the money raised in public transport and cycle networks.
http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/proroad-pricing/
Submitted by Dr D Baden – Deadline to sign up by: 17 January 2008 – Signatures: 341
5. This petition is for people who like comfy chairs.
We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to go ahead with the planned vehicle tracking and road pricing policy and use all income to increase reliability of, frequency of, amount of and comfort on public transport.
http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/yesroadpricing/
Submitted by Paul Laycock – Deadline to sign up by: 22 July 2007 – Signatures: 25
6. This petition is for a tracking system to be built but never switched on.
We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to carry on with the local road pricing policy with the aim to reduce road traffic and spend the profits on public transport, but do not introduce vehicle tracking systems which infringe on my right to privacy.
http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/VehicleTracking/
Submitted by Jolene Baldwin – Deadline to sign up by: 08 April 2007 – Signatures: 180
7. Here's a petition for people that cannot make up their minds but like signing petitions:
We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Conduct proper research and maintain an open mind on the subject of road pricing.
http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/RoadTaxResearch/
Submitted by Fiona Willmott – Deadline to sign up by: 19 February 2007 – Signatures: 28
8. Unfortunately we all missed this one.
We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to SUPPORT and IMPLEMENT the planned vehicle tracking and road pricing policy. It's about time the 'petrolheads' were punished. Well done Mr.Blair!.
Submitted by Cameron Tyre – Deadline to sign up by: 11 February 2007 – Signatures: 106
9. Wonder what this guy is like when he's having a bad day.
We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to ensure that if motorists are to be forced off the road by pricing or other measures, that a viable public transport infrastructure, with sufficient capacity, is put in place before the implementation of the road pricing or other measure.
http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Pricing/
Submitted by Michael Atkinson – Deadline to sign up by: 06 April 2007 – Signatures: 45
10. You just want to pay for your petrol but the woman behind the grill at the till in the petrol station asks you to complete and sign a four page insurance application form and then asks whether any other petrol station has previously declined to sell you petrol.
We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to endorse a motion that would see the future plans for road pricing and current road fund licence (car tax) scrapped in favour of an increased Fuel Duty Tax which would also include third party insurance.
Submitted by Ben Wilson – Deadline to sign up by: 16 July 2007 – Signatures: 53
Critique of certain of these petitions
1. Potential downsides of abolishing road tax (as in nos. 3, 10 above, also favoured by Prof David Begg).
It could lead to people keeping cars parked on-street that they hardly ever use, esp. decrepit old ones, so accelerating onset of CPZ, encouraging others to pave front gardens and forcing others still to detour to car parks. Especially now that there is pay-as-you-drive insurance, and the insurance costs necessary just to be parked on-street, if any, would be very small.
Also road tax allows option of greatly inflated road tax for 4x4s and other gas-guzzlers (perhaps if purchased after a certain cut-off date, as one major party advocates), with possible exemptions for occupational functional use e.g. farmers.
2. Beware that if fuel duty is raised (as in no. 10), there is a compelling argument for giving special exemptions to hauliers to prevent their business leaking to cross-border operatives who can fill up more cheaply abroad (France, Eire). This was a central complaint of the fuel duty protests.
In the last Pre-Budget Report, the government announced a rejection of making any such provision, instead saying they would take increased action against elements of cross-channel hauliers flouting UK regulations.