War on motorists drives rural folk mad

4:09pm Monday 7th April 2008

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There was a gentle and romantic Hollywood film made a few years ago called Sleepless in Seattle. As I write this, I would like to make an angry and hateful film called Toothless in Skipton, because I feel that the last of my teeth have just been kicked down my throat by this Government's total war on motorists - rural motorists in particular.

I run a small 4x4 - just 1500 cc - because I make my living in the Yorkshire Dales, summer and winter, rain or shine, snow or flood, and from time to time find myself bumping up farm tracks or even crossing fords. This car is a tool of my trade.

Yet in the last budget, Chancellor Alistair Darling boasted that he was taking action against the so-called "Chelsea Tractor" driven up and down the King's Road by rich housewives on the school run. They should be punished for endangering the planet, says New Labour.

I've not been near the King's Road for 20 years - but my road fund licence is due to go up to some £400 a year, at the same time knocking thousands off the re-sale value of my vehicle. And when I filled up this weekend, I paid more than £1 per litre of petrol. Diesel, which gives off less carbon emissions, is even more expensive - the highest in the whole of Europe.

I don't expect anyone to have much sympathy for a humble hack going about his business, but there are thousands of people in Craven whose round-the-year journeys are vital: doctors, health visitors, food delivery drivers, even the salesmen who keep the farmers stocked with animal feed.

There is even talk now of depriving people of 70 or over of their driving licences. Sir Francis Chichester was older than that when he sailed a small yacht round the world single handed.

I do believe that dangerous elderly drivers should be taken off the road, but I doubt city MPs realise that to rob fit country folk of their only means of travel in areas where public transport is virtually non-existent means they will have to move house - a notoriously stressful experience which could literally be a death sentence.

There is a solution for this down at the DVLA centre in Swansea, where every legal car in this country is registered by its postcode. Modern technology could easily impose huge road fund tax rises on city-based gas-guzzlers - and give country folk a bit of a break now that their post offices, shops, pubs and even churches are closing down.

But that would suggest Gordon Brown is interested in rural communities, which has been disproved time and time again. A national opinion poll published a few weeks ago showed that a large majority of the British people believe that so-called "green taxes" are simply another stealthy way to raise cash. Sorry, Gordon, but I no longer have any teeth to kick in: I'm toothless in Skipton.