Author Archive

Mitsubishi defends use of “road tax” in new TV ad campaign

Mitsubishi defends use of “road tax” in new TV ad campaign

“Road tax is a thing of the past,” says Mitsubishi in its new TV ad, which first aired last night. Well, yes, that’s accurate. But the use of the phrase in the TV ad isn’t meant to mean “road tax” is dead but that there’s a vehicle that doesn’t have to pay it. Interestingly, Mitsubishi […]


Gov.uk is now a little bit more accurate

Gov.uk is now a little bit more accurate

Chapeau to those piloting Gov.uk: they fixed a couple of little niggles after being told about them. Under ‘driving and transport’, there was a stray inclusion of ‘road tax’ (in brackets, but, still, best for the Government’s leading edge website to be accurate in all ways). And there was also an odd little phrase under […]


“Cyclists don’t pay for roads!” 1890-style

“Cyclists don’t pay for roads!” 1890-style

Thanks to some research I did for iPayRoadTax.com on the history of the long-gone Road Fund I discovered the cycling back-story of a number of key officials in the world of early motoring. This led to the creation of Roads Were Not Built For Cars, a soon-to-be-published history book on cycling’s critical contribution to both […]


A numbers doctor writes…and, politely, gets it wrong on car tax being a “fee to use roads”

A numbers doctor writes…and, politely, gets it wrong on car tax being a “fee to use roads”

Roger Harrabin of the BBC wrote an excellent piece on the non-existence of ‘road tax’ (it was also a news segment on Radio 4’s Today programme). Naturally, this was a lightning rod for those who feel the BBC is biased and green: “The BBC hates motorists and loves cyclists,” wrote David Vance of the BiasedBBC […]


Gastropub owner jokes he’ll ram cyclists at 60mph as they don’t pay for roads

Gastropub owner jokes he’ll ram cyclists at 60mph as they don’t pay for roads

The Bathurst Arms is an ivy-clad pub hotel in the sleepy Cotswolds. The restaurant is to die for. If you make it that far, that is. If you’re a cyclist the landlord of the The Bathurst Arms wants to see you dead. Or at least he did, until others pointed out that writing death threats […]


Comedy gold: “The car have priority over you because we pay road tax”

Comedy gold: “The car have priority over you because we pay road tax”

Motorists say the stupidest things. Well, some of them do, and so do their passengers. Who could ever forget the Mancunian ‘no pay, no say’ conversation? But for sheer comedy gold it would be hard to beat this exchange, which happened in Brixton at the weekend. It’s remarkably polite, from both sides. And erudite from […]


Survey claims that motorists want cyclists to wear helmets and pay to use roads

Survey claims that motorists want cyclists to wear helmets and pay to use roads

A survey from research agency Consumer Intelligence claims that motorists want cyclists to pay ‘road tax’. By not realising how roads are paid for the company is failing to live up to the second part of its name. Roads are paid by general and local taxation. The belief that roads are paid for by ‘road […]


“I knocked a cyclist off his bike. I have right of way, he doesn’t even pay road tax”

“I knocked a cyclist off his bike. I have right of way, he doesn’t even pay road tax”

You have to be a special kind of dumb to post that kind of comment to Twitter, but, sadly, the UK driving test doesn’t examine emotional intelligence and this young woman is speeding around Norfolk with these sort of sick, mistaken thoughts rattling around her head. How could anybody be so callous? Why is it […]