Drives and drive-nots in UK

14/11/11

By Chris Gibbings

Motoring tax rises mean Britain is becoming a nation of "drives and drive-nots", as lower-income and rural drivers lose mobility at a faster rate than the better-off, says the AA.

Less well-off motorists suffered more since fuel peaked at 137.43p a litre for petrol and diesel at 143.04p per litre, according to previous AA/Populus surveys of AA members, said the AA. Petrol stayed within 3p of that record since then.

Now the road organisation wants the Chancellor to go back to the system of setting annual fuel duty, which considers current economic and social conditions rather than the "automatic turning of the screw based on inflation".

AA president Edmund King said in a letter to George Osborne that drivers did not understand the reasoning behind high fuel duty increases that further increase the Retail Price Index, pushing demand down just as family and business budgets need mobility to stay afloat.

The AA said a poll of nearly 16,000 motorists in July "exposed the knife-edge that lower-income drivers endure budgeting on a set amount on fuel".