Why residents of Stockport should not support congestion charging...

Congestion charging in Manchester will affect all of us, either directly or indirectly, so that is one good reason why we all should support any action against what is yet another form of indirect taxation. It is therefore not suprising that many of us motorists who live and work in around Manchester are deeply upset about the prospect of this unfair tax.

Before I go much further let me just add that I am not against people using puplic transport, far from it, but having spent the best part of five years communting on the train from Hazel Grove to Manchester at peak times, I know how difficult that journey can be, because frankly the service is appalling, the carriages are filthy, the trains do not run on time and much of the time there aren't enough carriages for the number of people.

The Hazel Grove to Manchester train service isn't unique when it comes to the daily problems commuters have to endure, the picture is the same right across Greater Manchester. So until such times as those issues are sorted out the government shouldn't be trying to force road users onto public transport by introducing congestion charging.

Then we come to people who cannot use public transport to get to their place of work, because there is no service to their destination, these people do not use the road for joy of it, they do so because they have to. Why should these people be penalised for going to work each day?

Businesses who have to use vehicles for local deliveries will be hit too, they will have no choice but to pass on the charges to customers, so even if you use public transport each day, you will still end up paying for congestion charging, but again indirectly.

On top of this motorisits rightly believe that they are already contributing enough into the government coffers by paying the annual road tax license fee and not forgetting the sky cost of fuel in the UK.

Here at Top Car Talk we support any action against congestion charging, be it locally or nationally and we'd like to hear your thoughts on this thorny issue...