Driving to France? Check if you need a new emissions sticker to avoid a fine

Johno100

AdrianC wrote: »

What's that got to do with anything?

Once it is paid for there is no justification to keep charging the motorist. For example the Severn Bridge (opened in 1966), tolls are going to be abolished next year.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/motors/3581037/the-6-70-severn-bridge-toll-to-be-scrapped-making-it-free-to-get-to-wales-promises-theresa-may/

AdrianC

Johno100 wrote: »

Once it is paid for there is no justification to keep charging the motorist.

That's very lovely theory. No more than that, though.

It isn't a toll, it's a charge. The Transport Act 2000 explicitly allows charging schemes on any tunnel or bridge over 600m in length.
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/38/section/167

Somebody's got to pay. Is it the users, or everybody through tax?

Johno100

AdrianC wrote: »

Somebody's got to pay. Is it the users, or everybody through tax?

Pay for maintenance like the rest of the roads? Perhaps they could use some of the billions paid by motorists that gets diverted to other uses.

AdrianC

Johno100 wrote: »

Pay for maintenance like the rest of the roads? Perhaps they could use some of the billions paid by motorists that gets diverted to other uses.

Money comes into government. Through a variety of ways.
Money goes out of government. In a variety of directions.

Right now, more money goes out than comes in. It's called a deficit. You might have heard of it.

If less money comes in from one direction, less money has to go out, or more money has to come in from somewhere else. Not hard maths.

B'sides all that, the Dartford Crossing isn't maintained by the government, and the charge doesn't go to the government. It's operated privately, under contract to the government, and has been since the bridge was built privately in 1988.

Johno100

AdrianC wrote: »

Money comes into government. Through a variety of ways.
Money goes out of government. In a variety of directions.

Right now, more money goes out than comes in. It's called a deficit. You might have heard of it.

If less money comes in from one direction, less money has to go out, or more money has to come in from somewhere else. Not hard maths.

Whatever, I doesn't mean the motorist isn't being screwed.

AdrianC

Johno100 wrote: »

Whatever, I doesn't mean the motorist isn't being screwed.

I'm glad to see that evidence and reality won't sway you from your conspiracy theory.

Johno100

AdrianC wrote: »

I'm glad to see that evidence and reality won't sway you from your conspiracy theory.

Conspiracy theory? Try hard facts (yes a couple of years old but not a lot has changed)

Only £7.5bn of £30.7bn raised in 2012 was spent on roads - concern at big shortfall

Road users are now paying four times more money to Chancellor George Osborne in motoring taxes than is being spent by the Government on roads, according to research by the RAC Foundation.

The motoring research charity found that in 2012 a total of £30.7billion was raised from direct motoring taxation; £24.8bn from fuel duty and £5.9bn from vehicle excise duty (VED). However, in the same year just £7.5bn (24 per cent of motoring tax income) was spent on the road network, with £3bn spent on national roads and £4.5bn on local roads.

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/car-news/consumer-news/89224/only-a-quarter-of-car-tax-is-spent-on-roads

AdrianC

Johno100 wrote: »

Conspiracy theory? Try hard facts (yes a couple of years old but not a lot has changed)

Whoever promised you that VED and fuel duty would be hypothecated? They used to be - but that link was broken in 1936, by the then Chancellor - Churchill, W.

VED and fuel duty go into general taxation. That money means less money needed from VAT or income tax or whichever other sources. Or, if you prefer, less need to cut expenditure elsewhere.

cfw1994

So their instructions tell me to put it in the bottom right corner of the windscreen....
...but of course that is fine for a LHD French car: mine is clearly RHD - anyone know if it is fine even if it is on the bottom LEFT (where our old tax discs would have gone) ?
Maybe even in a tax disc holder to avoid marking the screen (& being portable if the screen was replaced, as mine was a month ago - glad I hadn't already fitted it for our trip later this week!)

thanks!

AdrianC

cfw1994 wrote: »

So their instructions tell me to put it in the bottom right corner of the windscreen....
...but of course that is fine for a LHD French car: mine is clearly RHD - anyone know if it is fine even if it is on the bottom LEFT (where our old tax discs would have gone) ?

The reason they ask you to put it on the nearside is the same as the tax disc used to go in the nearside - so it's easily seen from the kerb, when parked roadside.

Maybe even in a tax disc holder to avoid marking the screen (& being portable if the screen was replaced, as mine was a month ago - glad I hadn't already fitted it for our trip later this week!)

The whole idea of the sticker is that it's not easily portable between vehicles.