Right lets discuss a couple of peripheral points raised in the discussion so far
Road Tax. You have to remember that cigarettes and booze used to be big earners for the Government now fewer people smoke and those that do usually obtain 'imports'. Booze is the same a lot if it is imported and because most of it is brewed abroad the EU takes interest every time duty and tax are increased as they view it as a backdoor means of import control. A new cash cow had to be found and the motorist fitted the bill perfectly a captive market now close to being flogged to death.
Rail vs Road freight Well rail freight is a good idea peeps but sadly wont happen. Most of the branch lines were closeed in the 60's the rails ripped up and the land sold for housing in the 70's and 80's. The brew-ha-ha which accompanies every new road project would be doubled if it was proposed to build a new rail track through a residential estate (remember trains need relatively flat land so it isn't possible to bypass places the way roads do.
I'm afraid we have to face facts, choices made by beancounters decades ago have limited our options. The future is road transport maybe not fossil fueled but still having wheels on tarmac. The big stumbling block at the moments is this. If we moved away from fossil fueled vehicles to electric or hydrogen fuel cell powered the Government have not yet worked out a way to maintain the levels of taxation currently farmed from the motorist. If we increase taxation on road freight it would drive British companies out leaving the way open for even more foreign companies (who don't pay UK taxes and fuel duty) to clean up.
Sorry probably off topic but worth discussing I feel
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