Surprise surprise, the ABD and its lies are behind the anti road-pricing petition.

The Times
11 January 2007

Hardliners drive their campaign via No 10 website

Ben Webster

A Downing Street experiment in internet democracy has been hijacked by
a hardline motoring organisation that is promoting a petition against
nationwide congestion charging.

The Association of British Drivers, which believes that speed limits
should become advisory rather than compulsory and campaigns for the
abolition of speed cameras, has used the No 10 website to secure more
than 200,000 signatures.

The next most popular petition on the Downing Street site -
petitions.pm.gov.uk - to repeal the Hunting Act 2004, has gained only
18,000 signatures The congestion charge petition was placed on the site
by Peter Roberts, 46, who describes himself as an "ordinary motorist
and account manager from Telford, Shropshire".

The Times can reveal that Mr Roberts is a member of the association,
which he joined two months before starting the petition. He also works
in the car industry, supplying parts for Honda and Nissan.

An e-mail promoting the petition has been circulated widely by Mr
Roberts and other members of the association. It contains several
inaccuracies and paints an alarming picture of the impact of national
road tolls on families.

It claims that the Government is planning to force drivers to spend up
to £200 on a tracking device that will monitor all their movements,
charge them £89 a month in road tolls and catch them every time that
they exceed the speed limit.

It also claims that "all drivers will be paying far more than
today".

The Government is committed to holding congestion charging trials,
probably in Birmingham or Manchester from 2010, but has made no
decision on a national scheme, which it says is at least a decade away.


A study by the Department for Transport found that most drivers would
pay less than they do now under a national system of road tolls.
Ministers have said that other road taxes, such as vehicle excise duty
or fuel duty, will be reduced if motorists are required to pay by the
mile for road use.

The technology may also cost the motorist nothing because the DfT hopes
to "piggyback" on technology being fitted to many modern cars, such
as satellite navigation systems.

The Government has never suggested that the charging system would be
used to monitor the speed of vehicles.

A DfT spokesman said: "This e-mail is misleading and factually
incorrect. No decisions have been made on many of the things it claims
are government policy."

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article...541090,00.html

wrote in message
oups.com...
The Times
11 January 2007

Hardliners drive their campaign via No 10 website

Yawn............................................zz zzzzzzzzzzzzz...................

wrote:
The Times
11 January 2007

Hardliners drive their campaign via No 10 website

Ben Webster

A Downing Street experiment in internet democracy has been hijacked by
a hardline motoring organisation that is promoting a petition against
nationwide congestion charging.

Or to put a different spin on it:

The Daily Telegraph
10 January 2007 [1]

quote
Thousands join the fight against road pricing

....
The grass roots revolt comes as the Government draws up plans to
identify where the first road pricing trials will take place, in
readiness for a planned national scheme in the middle of the next decade.

Although the protest is backed by the Association of British Drivers, a
small group representing motorists, the initiative is the work of one
man, Peter Roberts, 46, an account manager from Telford, Shropshire. It
will send a signal to the political parties, who have all supported the
principle of "demand management" as a way of easing congestion.
....
/quote

[1]
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.../ntravel10.xml

--
Matt B

mb wrote:
On Thu, 11 Jan 2007 10:26:32 -0800, ukrc wrote:

The Times
[snip]

Get over it. And stop posting this crap here.



Why? Not an ABD member yourself are you? And who the hell do you think
to are to tell other posters what they can and cannot post? In fact the
more you attempt to bully, the more I am encouraged to post transport
policy and road safety related material, if only to annoy you!

Anyhow, I see that true to form the Telegraph doesn't highlight that
Roberts is actually and ABD activist. Still on the bright side the
petition does appear to be an excellent example of mob rule, sorry
'democracy' in action...

On Thu, 11 Jan 2007 18:43:44 +0000, Matt B
wrote:

wrote:
The Times
11 January 2007

Hardliners drive their campaign via No 10 website

Ben Webster

A Downing Street experiment in internet democracy has been hijacked by
a hardline motoring organisation that is promoting a petition against
nationwide congestion charging.

Or to put a different spin on it:

The Daily Telegraph
10 January 2007 [1]

quote
Thousands join the fight against road pricing

...
The grass roots revolt comes as the Government draws up plans to
identify where the first road pricing trials will take place, in
readiness for a planned national scheme in the middle of the next decade.

Although the protest is backed by the Association of British Drivers, a
small group representing motorists, the initiative is the work of one
man, Peter Roberts, 46, an account manager from Telford, Shropshire. It
will send a signal to the political parties, who have all supported the
principle of "demand management" as a way of easing congestion.
...
/quote

[1]
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.../ntravel10.xml


As an example of "spin", this is noticable in that the u.r.c. resident
TrollB has carefully omitted that the proponent IS A MEMBER of the of
the (spit) ABD - indeed TrollB implies through selective editing that
the oposite is the case.

wrote:
mb wrote:
On Thu, 11 Jan 2007 10:26:32 -0800, ukrc wrote:

The Times
[snip]

Get over it. And stop posting this crap here.

...
And who the hell do you think
to are to tell other posters what they can and cannot post?

Good point. One usenet user shouldn't really be telling another what
they can and cannot post.

In fact the
more you attempt to bully, the more I am encouraged to post transport
policy and road safety related material, if only to annoy you!

That is a natural reaction to 'over regulation'. ;-)

Anyhow, I see that true to form the Telegraph doesn't highlight that
Roberts is actually and ABD activist.

They may not have known he was, or he may well not be - who knows.

Still on the bright side the
petition does appear to be an excellent example of mob rule, sorry
'democracy' in action...

Or the start of the worm turning?

--
Matt B

wrote:
On Thu, 11 Jan 2007 18:43:44 +0000, Matt B
wrote:

Or to put a different spin on it:

The Daily Telegraph
10 January 2007 [1]

quote
Thousands join the fight against road pricing

...
The grass roots revolt comes as the Government draws up plans to
identify where the first road pricing trials will take place, in
readiness for a planned national scheme in the middle of the next decade.

Although the protest is backed by the Association of British Drivers, a
small group representing motorists, the initiative is the work of one
man, Peter Roberts, 46, an account manager from Telford, Shropshire. It
will send a signal to the political parties, who have all supported the
principle of "demand management" as a way of easing congestion.
...
/quote

[1]
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.../ntravel10.xml

As an example of "spin", this is noticable in that the u.r.c. resident
... has carefully omitted that the proponent IS A MEMBER of the of
the (spit) ABD

Eh? What makes you think he /is/ a member?

- indeed [Matt B] implies through selective editing that
the oposite is the case.

Eh? Where does the Telegraph article say that?

--
Matt B

wrote:
On Thu, 11 Jan 2007 18:43:44 +0000, Matt B
wrote:

Or to put a different spin on it:

The Daily Telegraph
10 January 2007 [1]

quote
Thousands join the fight against road pricing...
/quote


As an example of "spin", this is noticable in that the u.r.c. resident
TrollB has carefully omitted that the proponent IS A MEMBER of the of
the (spit) ABD - indeed TrollB implies through selective editing that
the oposite is the case.

Poor Matt B, self-confessed 'libertarian' and an ABD member. He hasn't
got a lot going for him has he! Another apparent 'qualification' to be
an ABD supporter is to have views 'slightly to the right of Attila the
Hun'. (And I note that Roberts also admits to be 'quite right wing' ).
All in all the ABD would seem to be a perfect reflection of the
individualistic, 'look after number one', 'might is right', 'there is
no such thing as society' age in which we live.

wrote:
wrote:
On Thu, 11 Jan 2007 18:43:44 +0000, Matt B
wrote:

Or to put a different spin on it:

The Daily Telegraph
10 January 2007 [1]

quote
Thousands join the fight against road pricing...
/quote

As an example of "spin", this is noticable in that the u.r.c. resident
TrollB has carefully omitted that the proponent IS A MEMBER of the of
the (spit) ABD - indeed TrollB implies through selective editing that
the oposite is the case.

Poor Matt B, self-confessed 'libertarian'

and an ABD member.

Whoa! Where did you you get that from???

He hasn't
got a lot going for him has he!

Here you go again. Attacking the person, the classic symptom of a lost
argument.

Another apparent 'qualification' to be
an ABD supporter is to have views 'slightly to the right of Attila the
Hun'.

You seem to know more about that than I do - are you a member of the
ABD? Are you a member of any 'road safety' organisation?

(And I note that Roberts also admits to be 'quite right wing' ).
All in all the ABD would seem to be a perfect reflection of the
individualistic, 'look after number one', 'might is right', 'there is
no such thing as society' age in which we live.

Your view. Looking at their website though, they seem to have some
valid points on some topics.

--
Matt B

On Thu, 11 Jan 2007 19:14:30 +0000, Matt B
wrote:

wrote:
On Thu, 11 Jan 2007 18:43:44 +0000, Matt B
wrote:

Or to put a different spin on it:

The Daily Telegraph
10 January 2007 [1]

quote
Thousands join the fight against road pricing

...
The grass roots revolt comes as the Government draws up plans to
identify where the first road pricing trials will take place, in
readiness for a planned national scheme in the middle of the next decade.

Although the protest is backed by the Association of British Drivers, a
small group representing motorists, the initiative is the work of one
man, Peter Roberts, 46, an account manager from Telford, Shropshire. It
will send a signal to the political parties, who have all supported the
principle of "demand management" as a way of easing congestion.
...
/quote

[1]
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.../ntravel10.xml

As an example of "spin", this is noticable in that the u.r.c. resident
... has carefully omitted that the proponent IS A MEMBER of the of
the (spit) ABD

Eh? What makes you think he /is/ a member?

Eh? This line in the article - one which you edited out:

"The Times can reveal that Mr Roberts is a member of the
association..."


- indeed [Matt B] implies through selective editing that
the oposite is the case.

Eh? Where does the Telegraph article say that?

Eh?

I say that - as you edited the article to imply the opposite.