Latest News
Fuel duty money is not being spent on transport
Motoring groups have accused the Prime Minister Gordon Brown of misleading drivers over increases in fuel duty after he reneged on a promise to spend the money on transport improvements.
In 1999, when Mr Brown was Chancellor, he said in his pre-Budget report: “If there are any real term rises in road fuel duties, the revenues will go straight to a ring-fenced fund for the modernisation of roads and public transport.”
He repeated the pledge in the Budget the following year.
But last Monday's 2p rise in fuel duty, despite being well above the annual rate of inflation, is going into the Treasury's consolidated fund for the general public spending rather than being earmarked for transport.
A treasury spokesman said two further increases in fuel duty – 2p a litre next April and 1.84p in April 2009 – would also go into the fund.
He confirmed that since Mr Brown made the pledge, not a penny had been transferred into the 'ring fenced fund'. This was because fuel duty had been frozen for several years.
Paul Watters, head of roads policy at the AA, said: “The public were misled into thinking that when they paid more at the pumps, the money would actually be spent on better transport.
“But by sleight of hand, we find there is to be no special fund at all, despite three successive years of significant increases in duty.”
He said that motorists paid about £45billion a year in various taxes but only £7billion was spent on roads.
September registrations show surprise growth
And the winner for the most popular marque in September's sales figures is...Ford. Once again.
The industry says it saw demand rise slightly and the figures are better than 2004 as people snap up the '57' plate.
Demand was up across all sales types and the overall September volume was 1.1 per cent or 4,591 units above the 1999-2006 average of 414,699 for the month.
Diesel and 'green' fuels are leading the demand.
And among the carmakers it's Ford that's by far the most popular with their March and September figures combining to account for around one third of total UK annual vehicle registrations.
The Galaxy and the C-MAX are proving to be popular and the firm says its all-new Mondeo already has almost 13,000 sales and a full order book to its credit.
Citroen and Seat also claim to have record-breaking sales figures for the month.
Tired Driving Survey Results
7 per cent of those surveyed by Brake admitted to falling asleep at the wheel in the past year.
The Brake survey featured 1,000 drivers, 78 per cent of whom put their faith in opening windows or listening to the radio to combat tiredness while driving.
Road safety charities Brake and Green Flag estimate that 2.3million drivers have fallen asleep at the wheel in the past year. Few of those interviewed said they followed Government advice, which is to take a break every two hours, and pull over for a nap if you feel tired.
Falling asleep at the wheel accounts for 96 road deaths and many more injuries each year, and Brake have called for Government support to try and combat the ignorance revealed in the survey. The real number of deaths caused by tiredness is probably higher, because it is difficult prove the driver was asleep after the fact.
Road safety charities Brake and Green Flag want to see the Government invest in high-profile advertising campaigns about tired driving. An online information sheet is available on the Brake website.