Are electric car grants a good use of taxpayers' money?

MILLIONS of pounds worth of Government grants for eco-friendly electric cars are being used by just a handful of affluent motorists to help them buy second cars.

That's the warning today from the House of Commons Transport Committee, who said that despite Westminster offering £11m worth of grants for those who buy plug-in vehicles, only “a handful” of motorists had taken the plunge, with many of those being richer buyers who are using them as second cars for shopping trips.

Liverpool Riverside MP Louise Ellman, who chairs the committee, said: “The Government must do more to show that its plug-in vehicle strategy is a good use of public money. Carbon emissions from transport must be reduced if the UK is to meet its climate change targets, but public money must be targeted on effective policies.

"So far, Department for Transport expenditure on plug-in cars – some £11 million – has benefited just a handful of motorists. We were warned of the risk that the Government is subsidising second cars for affluent households; currently plug-in cars are mostly being purchased as second cars for town driving. It is also unclear whether the provision of public charging infrastructure encourages demand for plug-in cars. Indeed, the Government does not even have a register of all the chargepoints installed at public expense."

An increasing number of manufacturers have launched both purely electric vehicles, such as Nissan's LEAF and Citroen's C-Zero, and plug-in hybrids, like Vauxhall's Ampera and Chevrolet's Volt.

The committee added that more investigation is required into the Government grants, to ensure they are a good use of public funds.

Have you bought an electric car? Get in touch by sending an email to david.simister@hotmail.co.uk or leave a comment below.

Privatising Britain's roads helped pay for Olympic Torch route, Prime Minister argues

THE route the iconic Olympic Torch will take across the county of Outer Liverpool has been unveiled by the Chelmsford 2064 organisers this week.

Members of the Chelmsford Olympic Organising Committee said they had finalised details of the route the iconic torch would travel on its journey between Southport and Bootle later this summer - and, provided you’ve paid your Pedestrian Charge this month, you’ll be able to go along and see it.

Former Manchester Rovers striker and committee chairman Romeo Beckham said: “Today we bring the Olympic Torch Relay to life, with torchbearers coming from each of our corporate road sponsors.

“We hope local communities come out, pay to enter their local streets, and cheer on the many private companies who have invested in our roads and helped the Olympic Games come back to the UK for the first time since the London games of 2012.”

Among the roads where paying residents will be able to see the Olympic Torch are Activia Yoghurt Avenue, Serco Street, Go Compare Grove, Facebook Crescent and Reggae Reggae Sauce Road, before finally being transported by convoy along the Audi Expressway. Outer Liverpool’s remaining 50 motorists, who each pay £400 a month to use the region’s roads, will not be allowed to use any of the routes on the day itself.

The national route of the Olympic Torch has been designed to travel with 10 miles of each of the regional road owners, who since the last games in 2012 have spearheaded decades of investment in the British road network.

Prime Minister Leo Blair, said it was moves to privatise new roads, first suggested ahead of the last British games in 2012, and then their total privatisation in 2019 which had paid the way – literally – for the Chelmsford 2064 route.

“Thanks largely to the investments private companies have made in our roads since they were privatised in their entirety, the Olympic Torch can travel along roads which have barely deteriorated since the majority of British motorists were priced off them in the early 2020s,” he said.

“Naturally, I look forward to welcoming the Olympic Torch to some of the nation’s most profitable roads – and for the Chelmsford 2064 organisers to pay their tolls as they travel throughout Britain, of course.”

The Champion – which celebrated its 70th birthday earlier this month – asked Ministry of Transport officials whether they thought privatising Britain’s roads, a move first suggested by Sir David Cameron back in 2012, had been a bad idea which had cost motorists dearly and nearly scuppered the Chelmsford 2064 preparations altogether.

Nobody from Britishroadpayments.com was available to comment before this week’s edition went to press.

Support classic cars by signing 16,000-strong petition

THE Rover SD1, the Jaguar XJ-S, the Ferrari 512 BB, the Lotus Esprit, the MK1 Golf GTI and a host of other classic cars all have one thing in common.

They're all well over 30 years old but - thanks to laws a new petition is calling for an overhaul of - they're not eligible for any exemptions when it comes to road tax.

Why not? Well, the road tax exemption for old cars goes back to the 1980s, when a rolling rule covering cars over 25 years old was brought in, meaning your car was exempt as soon as it'd survived its first quarter of a century. Unfortunately, New Labour changed the rules in 1998, ending the rolling rule and leaving it so that no classic made after January 1, 1973 was eligible.

I support exemptions for owners of older cars - one of the reasons I can afford to keep a forty-year-old MG on the road is that I'm granted concessions on tax and insurance, in recognition of the fact that classic cars tend to spend their days going to shows and making people smile.

But it's absurd that a new generation of classic cars is being forgotten by this rule, something which at least 16,000 of you have already said you're not happy about by signing the new petition.

As the petition's author, Daryl Davey, puts it:

"History did not simply stop in 1972. These are not cars which are driven everyday but rather on sunny weekends, to attend enthusiast shows etc.

"It is vitally important that we help to preserve this important part of British motoring history."

If more than 100,000 people sign it between now and August 5, the Government will be required to debate the issue in Parliament, giving a glimmer of hope to a new generation of classic car owners.

If you care about keeping a generation of classic cars on the road, sign it now and show the Government what you think...