A LEADING transport campaigner says the UK is becoming “totally anti-car”.
Howard Cox, the co-founder of Kent-based pressure group Fair Fuel UK, also hit out at Sadiq Khan who he feels is unfairly targeting motorists.
He told GB News: “The whole country in terms of local authorities, local councils and even the devolved councils, and Governments, especially the wonderful Greater London one, led by Mayor Khan, are totally anti-car. They are trying to stop us from driving and it’s wrong. Drivers are already nearly the highest tax drivers in the world.
“We’ve managed to have a freezing fuel duty for the last 10-12 years. But what’s happening here is absolutely crashing stupidity, it’s economic and political suicide. What are they doing? It’s pure virtual signaling.
“I’ve got 1.7 million very aggravated supporters who need their cars, need their vehicles to go places, and I regularly try and bring people together. And I get frustrated by this. “When the Treasury sits down each year before an autumn statement or a budget, they’ve got this little set of boxes to tick. Now, where are we getting our fifth largest income from reliably every year? And guess what? That’s driving – without fail.
“If you remember in the year 2000, there was a blockade around London with the trucker’s blockade. That’s when petrol was only 60, 70 pence. Now we’re looking at 150/170. I think people are actually battle weary, they are battle fatigue and campaign apathy. There are a lot of people who say ‘oh what can we do about it?’
Asked if he believes the rest of the UK will follow Wales in stopping new road projects he continued: “I sincerely hope not. If you invest in roads, you get four times more return than you do for investing in railways. And that’s the sort of thing that we should be pushing much more and more.”
