National Alliance Against Tolls - Manchester Congestion Charge - Dear Councillor
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(page created 1 November 2007)
ROAD PRICING - MANCHESTER TOLL A.K.A. MANCHESTER CONGESTION CHARGE - LETTER TO COUNCILLOR
This is an example of one letter actually sent to a councillor-
I voted for you at the last election, but I WILL change all my future voting based upon this issue. That is a measure of my level of objection.
I now call upon you now as my elected representative to work to exert all political might and stop the proposed Manchester Congestion Charge.
I work daily in Manchester and have no option to take `public` transport to undertake my work which can be at different sites throughout the region daily or require numerous intra region trips.
The British Public transport system does not exist - Trains - privately owned and run to make a profit for a corporation. Buses - privately owned and run to make a profit for a corporation.
My car is used only when required (it costs me to run so I don't choose to use it unnecessarily), and when I do it is for the benefit and well being of my family.
Mass transportation would not enable my job role to be effectively undertaken and would cut my output in many cases to a third of current rates.
It would require my current daily time distribution change as follows -
currently - 2.5 hrs travelling and 7.5 hrs working, total 10 hours, proposed - 6 hrs travelling and 7.5 hrs working, total 13.5 hours.
How does this affect the work/home life balance?
Gone - taking my daughter to nursery, bathing my daughter of an evening, putting my daughter to bed after night time play and reading.
Gone - evening trips to the gym (My wife and I take my daughter swimming of an evening, keeps the family healthy and allows positive family time).
Gone - the evening study time I have to ensure my skills stay current within my industry sector (IT), eroding my career prospects and removing much needed skills from the job market.
That's my family quality time gone and my ability to earn jeopardised!
In its place I'd have a bill in excess of a thousand pounds and NO benefit having already paid excessive taxation for services promised and not delivered.
I am not naive, I have worked extensively in London over recent years and can categorically state it hasn't worked there and isn’t improving (Though the charges have gone up!)
The only time I have ever been forced to remain close to a major civil disturbance was when travelling late at night on the tube from Westminster (Drunken mass brawl on the tube) for which I counted myself lucky to have escaped unhurt and safe.
I have never feared for my life when travelling in my car throughout Europe.
`Public transport` is a huge inefficient bureaucracy driven monolith that will have to undertake systematic change in direction before they will ever be effective alternatives viable for consideration as efficient transport mechanisms.
I consider the proposed imposition of this taxation to be against the very ethos of what it means to live in a free society and contrary to the public good.
I would end up paying additional taxes for somebody to waste through `administrative function' with its own excessive `carbon footprint` (buzz word of the moment describing how to quantify how evil we must all be for choosing to be in the pursuit of happiness :-) )
I would end up paying additional taxes for corporations to reap profit from my transportation needs through enforced usage of buses and trains.
I believe this proposed additional taxation to be a measure that pays lip service to the idea of transport systems improvement and will not realise any benefit to society.
I believe this to be a measure that will alienate the most needy and provide inequalities where the richer have better transportation links than the poorer and consequently a better quality of life with more free personal time.
I believe it will remove access to public services (You can’t use them if you can’t afford to get to them!), reduce opportunity for all, and drastically increase average household spend on transportation and time wasted travelling.
I believe I will have to take more trips, have more intermodal transfers, and cover more miles to be able to live.
Costs will go up;
Time taken will increase;
Distance travelled will increase;
Family time will be eroded to zero.
There is no benefit!
Just saying “something must be done!” doesn’t mean that this is the Right thing to do!
This proposition for additional taxation is not done in my name.
I call upon you to understand the wishes of the electorate, declare your intentions regarding this matter, and fight this immoral and illegal taxation of public land and carriageways.
Regards
XXXX
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