Philip Hammond is to announce the end of the M4 Bus Lane
Transport Minister Philip Hammond is to announce the scrapping of the M4 Bus Lane at the Tory Party conference.
Philip Hammond was quick to announce that he intended to end the ‘War on Motorists’ when he was appointed Secretary of State for Transport back in May. And it was a good soundbite that resonated with hard pressed motorists. So much so we applauded his aims in an article, which lead to the Guardian calling Cars UK ‘The Petrolhead’s’ favourite website’. Sadly, they meant it as an insult.
And to be fair to Philip he has undone a chunk of the ‘Mad Mullah’ stuff brought in by Labour in their quest to criminalise motorists at every given opportunity, such as removing funding for speed cameras so they will no longer be used as revenue-gathering tools and thinking again about lowering the drink-drive limit. And his hand seems tipped towards common sense motoring policies rather than continuing Labour’s quest to criminalise one and all.
On the other hand, Philip has persisted with the pointless electric car subsidy and has failed to answer convincingly questions Cars UK asked about disingenuous claims made by makers of EVs. Still, we feel sure his heart is in the right place.
But there’s one thing Philip hadn’t addressed – an issue which came to personify the whole ‘War on Motorists’ by Labour – and that’s the M4 Bus Lane. Probably responsible for more motorist anger in the South East than almost anything (and probably responsible for Sir Tel’s decision to vacate his show in favour of the Ginger Ferrari Lover) and which ended up dubbed the ‘Blair Lane’ as it was used by Government Ministers – Soviet Style – as well as one bus a week.
So, with Conference looming, what better headline for the Tory faithful than the scrapping of the M4 Bus Lane? And that’s exactly what they’re going to get, as Philip intends suspending the Bus Lane until the 2012 Olympics, bringing it back for the duration to ferry athletes around – and make the Olympic Committee feel important as they’re whisked in to town – before scrapping it after the Games end.
Good move. But please, Philip, look at the bigger picture too. Not just the soundbite, headline-grabbing stuff.
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