AA MOTORING TRUST RESPONSE TO TRANSPORT ANNOUNCEMENT
20 July 2004 - Automobile Association

The Government ''s transport announcement today is a clear signal that a fair deal for road users is still a long way off, says The AA Motoring Trust.

John Dawson, Director of The AA Motoring Trust, says: ''We are deeply disappointed by the progress of the original 10-year plan. The reality today is that there will be less for vital road investment, because of the massive overspend on the railways and underestimates as to the true cost of the of the overall transport programme.

''The main strength of the original 10-year plan, however flawed and optimistic, was that it set out goals and the 10-year financial framework needed for infrastructure - that framework now appears to have been seriously weakened.''

But the Trust welcomes the parallel announcement on the findings of the government-led report into road charging, which shows that any
national scheme is at least 10 years away, and that any decision to go ahead couldn> ''> t be made without broad public support for the idea.

John Dawson adds: ''Public acceptance is fundamental. Successive governments over decades have cheated on promises made to motorists on how road taxes and tolls will be set and spent. It is welcome the report recognises that trust and confidence in how all future money from road users is governed, managed and accounted for is key.

''If we are to progress with road charges the Government must now embark on a major programme of studies and experiments to assess the likely effect of scheme on real families in widely varying circumstances.''

The AA Trust says that it won ''t be easy to develop fair tariffs that take account the needs of low paid essential workers, whose journeys to work often have to be made at peak - and therefore the
potentially most expensive - times.

www.theaa.com

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