Philip Hammond - Secretary of State for Transport
Philip Hammond has been appointed the new Secretary of State for Transport. Will the Tories be more of a friend to the motorist than Labour? We hope so.
The Tories claimed in their election campaigning that motorists have had a raw deal under Labour. Do you know, we’d not noticed.
We’d not noticed the inexorable rise in fuel duty even when the country was crying in pain; hadn’t seen the proliferation of speed cameras as revenue gathering tools; not noticed Ken’s cynical manipulation of London’s traffic prior to introducing congestion charging; failed to see that under Labour coppers had disappeared from our roads to be replaced by brainless machines. Not much, we’d not noticed.
So will the Conservatives be any better? It’s hard to see how they could be any worse. There is the problem that they may need to take in to consideration some fluffy-bunny thinking from the Lib Dem side, but on the whole we would expect them to have a less cynical approach to cars and motorists.
They have also appointed a very bright chap as Transport Minister (sorry, Secretary of State for Transport) in Philip Hammond. Philip is far from anti-car and sharp enough not to be too swayed by the whole man-made global warming lobby.
Hopefully – although more in hope than expectation – Philip will also look objectively at the current obsession with taxing motorists based on the irrelevant CO2 emissions of their cars. Please, if there has to be a basis for emissions taxation do it on something relevant like particulates and NOx, and not CO2.
Just to remind us, this is what the Tories promised the motorist in their election manifesto:
- Stop central funding for new fixed speed cameras
- Focus on better ways to make our roads safe including authorising ‘drugalyser’ testing technology.
- Crack down on road works, introducing lane rental for some of our busiest roads;
- Give more powers to local councils to get traffic moving;
- Crack down on rogue clampers;
- Introduce a lorry road user charge, so foreign lorries pay their fair share of tax;
- Consult on our Fair Fuel Stabiliser
- Facilitate the switch to green cars by creating a national car recharging network.
Hopefully this is a start, not a complete plan. We worry about commiting funds to create a national recharging structure for electric cars. That sounds like a promise to gather votes rather than a thought-through policy. But we’ll see.
Good luck, Philip. We’ll be watching.
Snow Plough Manufacture in disused car factories says
I have been listening to various ideas for alleviating the current weather conditions & have compared the seriousness of the problem with World War 11, when the country managed to design & manufacture substantial numbers of aircraft in difficult times. If that was possible, surely, it is feasible to use some of our disused Car Factories for manufacturing vehicles to be used in adverse weather.
I think that whichever country can succeed in over-coming the current problems, will be generally favoured in areas of Economics, trade & Business.
I think it a false economy to disallow enough salt to be provided to our roads – and footpaths – surely it is cheaper than so many people using the services of Hospitals.
Rail tracks used to run De-icing Trains in bad weather. A.Mitchell
nonie dougal says
the relaxation of lgv driving hours a european directive by philip hammond is disgusting may it be on his head when a profesional driver is forced to exceed the hours that are laid out and enforced by eu health and safety , For the sake of another loaf of bread on the shelves at the supermarkets ,he seems willing to put drivers at risk who are already overworked and under paid, you shouldt ask drivers to put their lives at risk at risk when it suits you and then penalise them when it doesnt !!!!!.
J Osborn says
When is this government going to ban the dangerous use of lights on vehicles in daylight (daylight running lights).It may have been safe 30 years ago when headlights were a yellow glow,but with to_days LEDs and the modern lights, drivers can be dazzled at any time. It has been proved dangerous in Poland and Austria.I believe our roads are more crowded than these countries.So please stop this crazy Idea before the accident rate increases.
Michael Owen says
Dear Sirs, thank god the war on motorists is over, the Labour Party had taken it to persecution levels in efforts to get more stealth tax from us all. One area this government should not relax on is “Drink Driving” and an article on a new initiative in New York might be of interest as follows:-
“US launches strict drink-drive scheme
New York motorists with drink-driving convictions will have their cars fitted with a device that stops them driving while under the influence of alcohol.
It comes after tests showed a reduction in repeat offences.
If the breathalyzer detects even a small amount of alcohol the ignition locks and prevents the car from starting.
Breath tests must also be carried out during a journey. Should it fail at any stage, the car will emit a loud shrieking sound followed by flashing hazard lights, forcing the driver to pull over.
Passengers are required to take the test to prevent someone else starting the car. Some of the devices will be accompanied by a camera.
The new rule comes into effect in August and around 4,000 drink-drivers will be forced to use the system at a cost of £70 to install and £45-£70 per month to maintain”.
This is an excellent idea on paper, should we not study this first hand and see how it is applied, how it works and what results the New Yokers get from it. (I’d be prepared to offer my services to undertake the study for a modest fee and report back to theDepartment under a temporary project arrangement at £1000 per week plus reasonable expenses).
I would advocate studying this with NYPD and any other participating agencies for say 6-8 weeks with an additional 2 weeks added on for report writing, giving 10 weeks work in all to deliver conclusions and suggestions as to how this could be applied in the UK.
Yours sincerely
Michael J Owen
0786 599 7510