“Good news for MAMILs”: Cycle to Work cap’s omission from Budget sparks “Big Bike conspiracy” jokes, after rumours “did wonders for bike shops pre-Christmas”; UAE building mountains for Pogačar?; Froome back on the road after crash + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
“The all-or-nothing demand would force Rad to shut its doors immediately”: Beleaguered US e-bike company says battery recall could force it out of business
> Rad Power Bikes refuses recall of “hazardous batteries” despite public safety warning
“We call it the chin hammer”: Is this the craziest steerer tube set-up – and most redundant suspension stem – you’ve ever seen?
Yikes…
This, ahem, interestingly high set-up, posted on Reddit by Fountainbiker, has certainly got some tongues wagging.
“Not enough compliance already, had to add a suspension stem,” pointed out Fountainbiker, though I think there might have been more than enough flex in that steerer tube already.
“With drop bars so you can assume a more aerodynamic position,” added fellow Reddit user One-Salamander, trying their best to work out what Graeme Obree would make of it.
“We call it: the chin hammer,” said Caaper, and I reckon that could catch on – though Old Discipline simply referred to it as the “Death Wish”, which might be more accurate.
Meanwhile, others focused on the “Uber-style” gadget arrangement, with Nucleartides asking: “Holy shit, there’s handlebars under all that?!?”
“Do people not know they make cruiser bikes with high bar to seat ratios?” asked a bemused pallentx.
“But where will I store my spacer collection then?” replied AlienDelarge. Good point…
To be honest, I’ve never wanted to see an entire bike more in my life.
Your morning coffee, made the bike workshop way… with a power tool, on top of a laptop
Hmmm, tastes just like Shimano…
Four-time Tour de France winner, Giro d’Italia winner, double world champion, 10-time monument winner, and now… tattoo artist? Tadej Pogačar shows off new set of skills by designing triathlete’s latest star-studded tattoo
We all know Tadej Pogačar is one of cycling’s great all-rounders, capable of climbing, sprinting, and battling across cobbles with the best of ‘em.
But did you know, if this whole GOAT business ever goes to pot, the Slovenian could have a budding back-up career as a tattoo designer?
At the weekend, at the BeKing criterium in Monaco, triathlete and social media influencer Thibault Escaich, approached Pogačar, handed him a pen and a small piece of paper (all on camera, of course), and asked the world champion to mock up a design for his next tattoo.
After a few moments of solemn deliberation, Pogačar came up with ‘Life is awesome’ (who knew Tadej was a big Jeff Rosenstock and Bomb the Music Industry fan?), scribbled it down and handed it back to Escaich.
And yesterday, the Toulouse triathlete, who is aiming to qualify for next year’s Ironman world championships, took the Slovenian’s scribble to his local tattoo studio to get it permanently imprinted on his body.
Escaich’s Pogi tribute also means he has now completed the final cycling segment of his ‘triathlon GOAT tattoo trilogy’, having already secured similar designs from swimmer Leon Marchand and long-distance runner Eliud Kipchoge.
Each to their own, I guess?
“The only way we’re going to slow people down on these kind of roads is to engineer the problem away. It makes it safer for walkers and cyclists on this road”
Kildare’s slice of Pyongyang strikes again:
> “North Korean style” cycle lane project that locals say has “no purpose” blamed for more than 40 incidents
The waiting is the hardest part
How’s your lunch going? Still glued to the House of Commons live feed, like me?
We’re almost an hour into Rachel Reeves’ Autumn Budget speech, and still no mention of Cycle to Work or spending caps. Though the Chancellor has just announced that Labour wants to boost the UK’s car industry and help drivers…
No mention of Cycle to Work scheme spending cap in Rachel Reeves’ Autumn Budget
Despite recent speculation, stemming from a source in the Financial Times, that a new spending cap was set to be introduced to the Cycle to Work scheme as part of Labour’s Autumn Budget, Chancellor Rachel Reeves did not make any mention of the initiative in the House of Commons this afternoon.
Of course, that doesn’t mean that Cycle to Work won’t be subject to any upcoming changes, though the scheme was also noticeably missing from the OBR document that leaked this morning.
We’ve contacted the Department for Transport (who announced the Tories’ decision to scrap the previous £1,000 cap back in 2019) for more details, but they simply told us to get in touch with the Treasury. Which was helpful.
We’ll have more on this later and keep you updated if there are any developments.
> No mention of Cycle to Work in Rachel Reeves’ Budget despite reports spending cap would be introduced
Budget recap: £2 billion for pothole funding, fuel duty freeze remains, rail fares frozen, and mileage charge introduced for electric vehicle drivers
While the future of Cycle to Work remains a mystery (has the cap been shelved? Is it currently buried within the rest of the tax changes?), there’s plenty of other road-related news to chew on in today’s Budget.
First up, in good news for all road users, the government has committed to spending over £2 billion annually for local authorities to repair, renew, and fix potholes on their roads by 2030.
This record levels of funding will double the money spent on potholes since Labour entered government, enabling it to exceed its manifesto commitment to fix an additional one million potholes per year by the end of its parliamentary term.
Meanwhile, the ‘war on motorists’ (cough, cough) continues, as the “temporary” 5p cut in fuel duty on petrol and diesel has been extended once again until September 2026, before rising over the following six-month period.
Meanwhile, a new mileage-based tax for electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid cars will be introduced from 2028, with Reeves noting in her speech that “all vehicles” play a part in damaging the roads.
Premium cars will also be excluded from Motability scheme, which allows people on certain disability benefits to lease vehicles more cheaply (so, essentially, a similar approach to what was expected for Cycle to Work).
And finally, regulated rail fares for journeys in England will be frozen next year for the first time since 1996, hopefully boosting train journeys – and potentially encouraging more people to ride their bikes to the station… though the British Transport Police may need to up their game in that case, of course.
In a statement issued this afternoon on the Budget’s effect on roads and transport, IAM RoadSmart’s Director of Policy and Standards Nicholas Lyes said: “Drivers and operators of conventional vehicles will breathe a sigh of relief that the Chancellor has kept the fuel duty freeze in place until at least September 2026.
“Owners of electric vehicles may feel more hard done by that a per mile charge is being introduced and much of the devil will be in the detail.
“It’s a tough balancing act for the government to both ensure our roads are well funded and encourage people into zero emission alternatives. However, arguably the Chancellor has taken the first step to future-proof the network by ensuring we have viable funding for high-quality and safer road infrastructure in the years ahead.”
“One of the greatest pressures on household budgets is the cost of commuting”: Cycle to Work Alliance “happy” as scheme appears to avoid any changes or new spending cap in Budget
The Cycle to Work Alliance, a coalition of the scheme’s five largest providers, says it is “happy” that a reported spending cap on users appears to have been scrubbed out of the Autumn Budget, with the group noting the government’s desire to ease the cost of commuting in the UK.
According to the alliance’s “initial deep review” of the Budget, as well as our own, there appears to be no mention of the Cycle to Work Scheme or salary sacrifice beyond the £2,000 cap on pensions (though we’ll keep an eye on the detail in Labour’s tax changes).
“Following speculation, we are happy to confirm no changes to the Cycle to Work Scheme have been announced in the Chancellor’s Budget this afternoon,” Steve Edgell, the Cycle to Work Alliance’s chair, said in a statement issued to road.cc this afternoon.
“Separately, the Chancellor has recognised that one of the greatest pressures on household budgets is the cost of commuting.
“We will continue to work closely with Government to ensure the scheme remains one of the most popular and successful workplace initiatives – helping save commuters costs by over £1,200 every year.
“This follows endorsement of the scheme by Transport Minister Lilian Greenwood this Autumn, who called the scheme ‘a real success story, helping millions of people choose a healthier, greener way to travel while boosting local economies and supporting jobs’.”
Earlier this month, when it was initially reported that a spending cap was set to be reintroduced to the scheme, Edgell said the alliance was “concerned” about the potential effects on cycling in the UK if the government reduces the scheme’s tax benefits.
“This would impact a vital and popular employee benefit which has enabled more than two million people to access cycle commuting since it was launched by a Labour government 25 years ago,” Edgell said.
“In 2019 a spending cap of £1,000 was abolished, as it was preventing people from being able to access the equipment they needed for everyday commutes. By effectively excluding e-bikes and adapted cycles from the scheme, the cap discriminated against older people and those with disabilities.
“Any new cap must not undermine recent efforts to ensure that everyone who wants to participate in the Cycle to Work scheme can do so easily.
“Making reforms to the scheme risks undoing the progress that has been made to increase uptake of cycling and decrease traffic and carbon emissions. As an Alliance, we will continue advocating for an initiative that has enabled workers across the country to cycle rather than drive to work.”
“If the government is serious about boosting the UK economy, we need greater investment in walking and cycling”: Cycling UK says there is “still time to unlock” active travel’s potential, despite Budget’s impact on cycling remaining “unclear”
Cycling UK is the latest organisation to weigh in on today’s Autumn Budget and what it means for active travel, with the charity insisting that the Labour government needs to invest more in a long-term, integrated approach to cycling and walking if it’s serious about boosting the UK economy.
“While the picture for walking and cycling investment in today’s Budget is still unclear, it’s reassuring to hear the Chancellor call infrastructure the backbone of economic growth,” Cycling UK’s director of external affairs Sarah McMonagle said.
“Cycling and active travel investment comes at little cost to the taxpayer and can be built more quickly than other forms of transport infrastructure.
“If the government is serious about boosting the UK economy, we need greater investment in walking and cycling, putting more power in the hands of local leaders to unlock regional growth and giving us all more freedom to travel.
“For every £1 spent on cycling and walking schemes in the UK, nearly £6 back in benefits. From better public health to more people shopping on the high-street, investment in cycling and walking carries huge potential to revitalise communities across the country.
“There’s still time to unlock this potential, and we impress upon the government the benefits of a long-term, integrated approach to active travel that better connects and strengthens our communities.”
Treasury confirms that “nothing announced on Cycle to Work at the Budget”
Well, that’s that, then. After an afternoon of speculation, TV watching, and frenzied reading through OBR documents, the Treasury has just confirmed to us that the Autumn Budget did not contain anything about the Cycle to Work, or a spending cap.
Remember kids, don’t always trust your sources.
Toilet-based ads, quiz shows, and a major Roubaix recce: Wout van Aert’s packed winter schedule continues
Wout van Aert has been a busy man this winter.
Yesterday on the live blog, we told you about his bizarre toilet-based foray into the world of advertising (ah go on, watch it again, you know you want to).
Since then, the Visma-Lease a Bike star has taken part in a popular Belgian quiz show, where for some reason he was required to ‘play’ the violin:
Van Aert’s musical flair (though I might leave that debate to actual violinists) prompted one of his fans to ask on Twitter: “Is there anything this man can’t do?”
Unsurprisingly, she received dozens of replies all saying the same thing: “Win a monument.” Ouch.
Well, to rectify that, Van Aert spent yesterday testing himself on the cobbles of Paris-Roubaix, as part of a very early winter equipment test (before the Hell of the North route gets too busy in spring), including Visma’s now de rigueur Gravaa adjustable tyre pressure system.
Van Aert was taking his recce so seriously that completed the Camphin-en-Pévèle sector seven – seven! – times, earning Strava’s Local Legend accolade in the process.
Think you’re due a day off soon, Wout.
Toot Engineering versus the UCI’s tech rules
> Toot Engineering takes on controversial UCI bar width rules with fully compliant “radical handlebar system”
“It’s been a tough road back”: Chris Froome reveals he’s back on his bike, three months after life-threatening 30mph training crash into road sign… Is the four-time Tour de France winner planning to race on in 2026?
Almost three months to the day since the horror, high-speed training crash that left him with life-threatening injuries, Chris Froome is back on his bike.
At the end of August, the four-time Tour de France winner was riding through Saint-Raphaël, a resort town on the Côte d’Azur, when he clipped a kerb and hit a road sign head-on at 30mph.
Froome suffered five broken ribs, a broken back, and a collapsed lung in the crash, as well as a pericardial rupture, a tear to the sac surrounding the heart, which was only discovered by doctors during surgery.
“It was obviously a lot more serious than some broken bones,” Froome’s wife Michelle told the Times a few days after the crash. “He’s fine but it’s going to be a long recovery process. He won’t be riding a bike for a while.”
And now, three months on, the seven-time Tour de France winner shared a promising update, by revealing he’s back on his bike.
“It’s been a tough road back after my latest crash but it feels so good to finally be out here spinning the legs and on the road again,” the former Sky and Israel-Premier Tech rider – no stranger to life-threatening crashes, after his horror season-ending spill at the 2019 Dauphiné – posted on Instagram this morning.
“Every setback teaches you something… this one reminded me to slow down, heal, and enjoy the simple things in life.”
While Froome’s message is welcome news in the wake of the injuries he sustained, it provides no more than a tiny glimpse into what the 40-year-old’s plans are for 2026.
> Chris Froome’s retirement limbo leaves the sport of cycling to grapple with a difficult legacy
Earlier this month, his Israel-Premier Tech team – now known, of course, as NSN Cycling – announced that Froome was one of a number of riders leaving the squad at the end of the year.
The combination of his crash, his age, his long-running lack of form, and the end of his lucrative contract at IPT, many speculated, appeared to spell the end of Froome’s glittering, sometimes turbulent, 19 years in the peloton?
But is Britian’s most successful grand tour rider, now back on his bike, gearing up for one last ride next season? We’ll be keeping our eye out for any updates…
“Poor sprinters!” Cycling fans outraged at reports UAE is building ‘artificial mountains’ on Abu Dhabi world championships course “to suit Tadej Pogačar”
I’ll be honest, I had to check the date on this one (though we are in an era where the Col du VAM exists, so who really knows these days?).
The last few world road race championships have, it’s fair to say, been heavily weighted towards the climbers and hilly classics specialists (so, basically, Tadej Pogačar).
In fact, you’d have to go as far back as 2016 to find the last properly flat world champs course, when Peter Sagan pipped Mark Cavendish at the end of a windy day in Doha (the following year’s races in Bergen also saw decent-sized groups contest the finish, to be fair).
Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com
And with tough tests awaiting the peloton in Montreal and the French Alps in 2026 and 2027 respectively, hot off the heels of equally climby affairs in Zurich and Kigali, the next potential rainbow jersey opportunity looks set to be Abu Dhabi in 2028.
Not if the UAE gets its way, however.
According to reports from Spain this week, the UAE is currently in the process of plonking a few brand-new ‘mountains’ onto the prospective course, seemingly in a bid to toughen up the race – and when it comes to the men’s event, potentially suit a certain Mr Pogačar.
Who just so happens to race for… you guessed it, UAE Team Emirates.
Marca reported this week that Abu Dhabi’s world championship organisers initially tried to persuade the UCI to let them include Jebel Hafeet – the deciding climb of the early-season UAE Tour, and where Pogačar has won four times during his career – as the race’s finish, a plan rejected by the governing body.
Luca Bettini/Sprint Cycling Agency
So, instead it looks like the artificially constructed climb of Al Wathba could form the focal point of the 2028 world championships. The Al Wathba was built back in 2023, using sand from ancient fossil dunes, aggregates extracted from the desert, layers of geotextile to prevent shifting, and specially compacted asphalt designed to withstand high temperatures.
Its 1.4km length and six per cent average gradient is nothing to write home about, however, never mind decide the fate of a rainbow jersey. But that doesn’t mean the climb isn’t continuing to grow – the UAE is currently in the process of extending it by a further 600m, which will hit gradients of around 11 per cent.
And by 2028, according to internal engineering documents seen by Marca, the plan is to build a climb that will end up 3.8km long with an average of 6.5 per cent, including a final kilometre at 11 per cent and hitting a maximum of 13 per cent.
And what’s more, another set of major construction works on Hudayriyat island will also see the creation of a series of smaller, leg-sapping ‘designer’ hills. Bad luck, sprinters.
Luca Bettini/Sprint Cycling Agency
Marca’s investigation into the 2028 world champs route was sparked by comments made last week by Belgian sprinter Tim Merlier, who has sprinted to seven victories in the last three editions of the UAE Tour, albeit on the country’s flatter plains.
“They are working on it,” the Soudal Quick-Step fast man told Domestique about the UAE’s plans to inject some climbing into what could easily have been a sprinter-friendly course in Abu Dhabi.
“Every generation of sprinters should get at least one real chance at a world title. I fear that chance will never come for me.”
And it’s fair to say the rumoured plans haven’t gone down too well with cycling fans on the internet, either.
“Poor sprinters, even a world championship in the desert is not flat anymore,” wrote Mihai Simion on Twitter. “If they are really building a 500m hill at 11 per cent average, it means it’s another edition guaranteed for Pogi.”
“They did study the inclines and length to make it ‘user friendly’ for their fave, right?” asked Cocaloca.
“Well, well, the UAE wants to make Pogačar win at home? How strange. What a circus, seriously,” added Thibaut, while Jasper was incredulous, asking: “They can’t be f***ing serious, this sport is so done.”
“Great!!! Don’t stop until sprinters go to track or change their capabilities,” Yeisson chipped in sarcastically.
“I’m seeing posts about a world bike race where the hosts are said to be constructing hills for it. Big hills. Strewth,” said Bells and Bikes on BlueSky (who I imagine isn’t a racing fans).
“No idea if true but in this world of greenwashing it wouldn’t surprise me. I think we need more TV coverage of people cycling to work on real bikes on real land.”
Now there’s an idea.
However, not everyone was against the reported plans, with Sebastian writing: “Actually happy to see this! Worlds should always be a classics race.”
“Good,” added another fan. “In case there’s not enough wind for echelons, the flat race would be absolute boredom for six hours, followed by five exciting minutes.”
What do you reckon? Should the worlds always be tough? Or should riders of all specialities be allowed a crack at the rainbow jersey every once in a while?
“Good news for MAMILs”: Cycle to Work cap’s omission from Budget sparks “Big Bike conspiracy” jokes and claims “Evans must be sponsoring an MP”, after source behind rumours “did wonders for bike shops pre-Christmas”
The news, confirmed to road.cc by the Treasury, that a spending cap will not be reintroduced to the Cycle to Work scheme as part of the Autumn Budget has sparked quite the discussion on social media.
This discussion has mostly, we must admit, centred on where the rumours of a spending cap originated in the first place.
Earlier this month, the Financial Times reported that sources apparently familiar with the government’s Budget preparations relayed that ministers believe that the Conservative decision to lift the scheme’s previous £1,000 cap in 2019 was not the best use of public funds, with one source in particular concluding that “taxpayers shouldn’t be footing the bill for luxury leisure”.
“Cycle to Work should be about helping ordinary commuters switch to greener travel, not giving tax breaks to high earners buying £4,000 e-bikes for weekend rides in the Surrey Hills,” the alleged government figure told the FT.
So who is this government source? And how did they get it so wrong? In any case, they’ve inadvertently lent a helping hand to the UK’s struggling cycling retail industry this winter, providing just the advertising campaign retailers and the Cycle to Work scheme needed.
“Congratulations to whoever briefed that the chancellor was going to axe Cycle to Work, then didn’t,” London Centric editor Jim Waterson posted on BlueSky.
“Whatever was going on behind the scenes, you’ve just done wonders for London’s bike shops pre-Christmas.”
“I spy a conspiracy by Big Bike,” joked tech and politics writer James Ball, prompting a few to ask whether he meant penny-farthings or tandems.
“Like I said, leaks aren’t reliable,” noted Robert Woolley. “I wonder if Evans Cycles are sponsoring an MP?”
Now there’s a story…
“Did genuinely once have someone try to tell me that the Cycle to Work scheme was driven by bike shop lobbying, as if your local bike shop really could muster that kind of pressure on ministers,” added Richard. The power of Big Bike, eh?
And, as if it prove Waterson’s point about the power of the Labour source’s inadvertent ad campaign, in a completely unrelated chat Oli Lane admitted that he was “almost annoyed” by today’s non-announcement, “after rushing around for two weeks to get my application for a cargo bike through just in case the rug got pulled”.
Others, meanwhile, branded Cycle to Work’s Budget omission as a “small nugget of good news” this afternoon.
“Perhaps [Reeves] has read the Treasury’s own 2023 assessment of the scheme, which found that in terms of creating modal shift, and thus boosting public health, it is very, very effective,” the Guardian’s Peter Walker.
“Good news for MAMILs,” replied Henry Blythe, perhaps referring to the “high earners” in Surrey noted by our misinformed or hasty Labour source.
“If you read the report you’ll see it’s more nuanced than the cliché,” Walker hit back.
“Median value of bikes/equipment bought is £750. And particularly now, a lot of higher-value purchases are e-cargo bikes, which are particularly good for replacing car journeys.”
To his credit, Henry responded by apologising and clarifying that he was “just making a silly joke” and that he’s actually a “big fan of getting people onto bikes and of the scheme”.
Remember Henry, silly jokes are just for the live blog and Labour sources… It’s been a ‘fun’ day, eh?
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Latest Comments
Even more ridiculous than the UCI-rule he breached is his lame excuse. I've seen a better picture him finishing and both levers are tilted inwards at about the same angle. I've had my share of crashes and it seems rather unlikely you'll move both levers in a crash, let alone moving both levers to about the same angle.
We all make up facts, every day - that's just an inevitable effect of living. What they make up are fantasies.
Here's a thought. We should rip up the M1 and M6 because of their role in road deaths, recent robberies of drivers. Maybe the ferry routes because of the abuse by smugglers. My understanding is that the high streets are dying already - making it easier for people to come into towns on multiple modes would seem to me to be a deterrent to criminality. How many drive by shootings, robbery escapes are committed by people on bicycles? This feels like a few politically motivated individuals recruiting support by "winning" a particular cause.
RE: why not remove the shops. By providing for mass motoring with free-flowing (well...) motor traffic they're already indirectly helping remove local shops... 😉
The anticyclists are stupid people who make up facts.
The CUES story seems a very odd one. It seems to have been years since it was announced yet bikes are still being sold mostly with the groupsets it was meant to replace (and it can't all be overstock, surely?). I haven't followed it closely but it also seemed quite confusing about what it actually was - one groupset but with 8, 9 and 10 speed options... surely that's three groupsets, even if you put the same name on them? And for those who do believe it's all the same, why then buy a £1200-£1500 bike if it has the same groupset (or at least the same groupset name) as one half the price. As I say, I haven't followed it closely so may have missed the point - but good marketing and communication is partly about ensuring that your core message gets through to people who aren't paying much attention for much of the time (which is surely a lot of us, a lot of the time).
Whatever the reasoning, this is good news. The problem with CUES, for me, was the gearing ratios. 11-13-15-17-20-23-26-30-34-39-45T is fine on a 1x Gravel type set-up, but for a road bike it leaves some pretty big gaps. How often would you need a gear as low as 34x45 on a road bike? I'd much rather have 11-32/11-34/11-36 options with less jumps. Maybe I'm just more traditional, as my current old 10spd Tiagra/Ultegra set-up has a 12-28 cassette and I'm used to the smaller gaps.
Apart from all the other faults with this product noted by other posters, I don't really buy the "easily transferable between bikes" line either; not only will most people have different shoes to go with different pedal set ups (SPD-SL for road, SPD for gravel/MTB) and different ride types, they also often have (I hope it's not just me) different shoes for the same bike depending on conditions. I have my "best" road shoes that only come out in the summer when the forecast and the roads are dry, if it's raining or muddy an older, more tatty pair come out. For me, this product would have to be constantly swapped between different shoes or just stay on one pair that I only use for maybe 25% of my rides, so that supposed advantage pretty much disappears.
Wouldn't a police officer issuing a ticket for a non-existent offence be grounds for more than a slap on a wrist at a job appraisal?
My suggestion is to use a dry-wipe marker. When the owner finds it and then eventually wipes it off easily, hopefully they might realise how much worse it could have been with a permanent one.
25 thoughts on ““Good news for MAMILs”: Cycle to Work cap’s omission from Budget sparks “Big Bike conspiracy” jokes, after rumours “did wonders for bike shops pre-Christmas”; UAE building mountains for Pogačar?; Froome back on the road after crash + more on the live blog”
Quote:
FTFY
Has cycling officially become
Has cycling officially become a Pogacar fan club? If you just start creating courses to suit one rider whats the point? Its the same mentality that changed the final stage of the TdF to a bumpy route from the traditional flat sprint.
If you keep doing this, sprinters will stop entering these races losing an important dimension of the sport
Flat races bore the audience.
Flat races bore the audience. To keep watchers stuck in front of their TV sets for 3 to 5 hours, races must be entertaining and dramatic. That makes for juicy TV rights.
MaxiMinimalist wrote:
Nope, not true for everyone. Some will enjoy the flat stages, appreciating the tactics and skill involved, others not so much.
Those UAE people know nothing
Those UAE people know nothing about building artificial hills… https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marble_Arch_Mound
Putting in cycle lanes will
Putting in cycle lanes will just encourage people to abduct giant nutcracker men.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce8nxvg1k47o
mdavidford wrote:
All I can say is “wasne me”…
Just some one who feels
Just some one who feels strongly about not puting up Christmas decortions until December :-/
Meanwhile, a new mileage
Mercifully, she said:
“And because all cars contribute to wear and tear on our roads I will ensure that drivers are taxed according to how much they drive and not just by the type of car they own by introducing Electric Vehicle Excise Duty on electric cars. This will be payable each year alongside Vehicle Excise Duty at 3p per mile for electric cars and 1.5p for plug-in hybrids helping us to double road maintenance funding in England over the course of this Parliament.”
Though I fully expect this more direct linkage of road use, road maintenance and tax to be used by the “I pay road tax” lobby.
In response, we need a more
In response, we need a more concise way to say:
“Cycling BENEFITS the economy/taxpyer because it…
– makes people healthier, cutting NHS costs and reducing treatment queues
– causes negligible wear to roads, compared to motor vehicles
– causes zero exhaust pollution and negligible brake emissions
– causes zero delays to journey times for motorists
– causes zero delays to emergency services
– helps fight climate change
So where is my tax REBATE?”
Anyone have any other points to add?
I know there have been studies showing the economic benefits of cycling v driving, the primary figures I remember are 50p per mile cost of driving v 25p per mile BENEFIT of cycling.
“Virtuous Cycle”
“Virtuous Cycle”
Cycle shops benefit
Cycle shops benefit financially, so it helps to keep people employed.
How are they gonna collect
How are they gonna collect the 3p per mile tax? Will someone come and check how many miles the car has done every year? Or will you have to self declare? Also, not being funny, I used to have a car – perfectly legal – where the speed odometer was in Kph. I suppose in that case you just do a simple calculation.
Easy – just station people at
Easy – just station people at each mile along the road.
Rome73 wrote:
Apparently you will declare your estimated mileage for the coming year when paying VED and be billed according to that estimate; the actual mileage will then be checked and reported to the authorities at the car’s MOT and if you underestimated you’ll pay the excess, if you overestimated the surplus will go towards next year’s duty.
Wonder how long it will be before some enterprising backstreet garages get hold of some software enabling them to reduce the mileage on the digital clock?
Rendel Harris wrote:
Until there’s more joined-up government * that seems a pedestrian proposal. Your car should be capable of reporting high when quizzed in the context of mileage expenses, and low when interrogated at an MOT. Just get VW engineers on the case…
* Either beckoning in a crummy version of 1984 OR the minimum necessary to chase after the ever-growing abilities of international corporations (somehow becoming even more powerful and monolithic) / speed of marketing of regulation-dodges apparently.
Rendel Harris wrote:
Will there be an option to declare a negative milage, get a refund from the government and then leave the country?
I am interested in how this
I am interested in how this will work.
With cars less than 3 years old not requiring a MOT there seems an obvious gap that will need to be closed if there is a annual charge.
With the future adoption of this charge on some of our vehicles, over time I hope that it leads to a greater focus on the millions of vehicles that are on our roads without an MOT (and insurance).
With ANPR prevalent, it seems to just be the enthusiasm for the ‘system’ to chase this down.
We have a regular poster on this site who has highlighted many cases and the lack of structured enforcement.
Couldn’t agree more, it’s
Couldn’t agree more, it’s absolutely infuriating that the country is absolutely plastered with ANPR cameras and the government has databases of every car with paid up insurance and MOT and yet millions of people get away with driving without one or both for decades, it seems.
In terms of new cars, apparently dealerships will be given the option to include prepaid eVED for the first three years as a bundle with a new vehicle or the new owner can estimate what their mileage for the first three years will be when the vehicle is registered in their name and then they will either pay any excess or accrue any overpayment to their account when the mileage is first registered at the three year MOT. I assume there will be some mechanism allowing for annual payments in those first three years rather than having to pay the first three years’ duty upfront as soon as you acquire the vehicle.
Agreed.
Agreed.
Until recent years almost all vehicles have used petroleum based fuel.
I have often said that all petrol stations’ CCTV should be linked to the DVLA/police databases to check if cars are wanted or have expired insurance/MOT/VED and they can then link it to whoever pays (usually by card).
I know of one private property that has electronic gates that lock the vehicle inside the car park if the CCTV finds the car is wanted.
But even though “we have the technology”, it is not politically viable to do it…
Sniffer wrote:
Will it be a completely inflexible, bureaucratic confiscation from hard-working motorists on pain of vast fines, potentially losing your reputation or even risking “having the book thrown at you”?
… unless you don’t want to, in which case it will be entirely optional, like paying VED, putting your car through MOT or having a driving licence and not being banned?
We have a regular poster on
We have a regular poster on this site who has highlighted many cases and the lack of structured enforcement
It’s worse than that! There’s an absolute refusal to enforce MOT regulations/ law by Lancashire Constabulary, all such reports are ignored and binned and they’re proud of it! Lancashire PCC simply states that refusal to deal with failed MOT/ no MOT is ‘an operational decision of the police- nothing to do with us’. This is PK06 AAF, reported to the police the day I detected it 5 weeks ago. MOT expired 6 months ago, and a badly failed MOT a week after that. No VED for 5 months. It’s still the same today. DVLA really doesn’t want busybodies reporting absence of VED, so they make it very difficult and refuse to accept photographs- you have to able to give the address and postcode of where the vehicle is kept, which is rarely known.
However, I do know the address where BF64 TGE is kept, and have done since I reported it to DVLA 3 1/2 years ago- I can film it any evening I choose. He will soon achieve the milestone of 4 years without VED. The company is Lux Developments and Electrical, and they proudly display the vehicle on the Facebook page for 18th September. The 2 brothers’ company address at Companies House is not where the offending vehicle is kept- maybe that’s the other brother’s house. My MP wrote to DVLA about this and the literally hundreds of VED and MOT evaders I have detected on just a couple of miles of road in North Lancashire, and she was even fobbed off by a minister from her own party! The apparently useless Lilian Greenwood twice inexplicably declared ‘we make VED easy to pay and difficult to avoid’! Not in Lancashire it isn’t, and that fobbing-off was months ago, and included the standard GDPR dodge: ‘we can’t tell you whether the keeper of this vehicle has committed an offence, or what we will do or have done about it’. They really do think members of the public, and especially cyclists, are stupid as well as being A Menace to Society
There’s going to be a gammon
There’s going to be a gammon meltdown on this, especially as fuel duty will start going up from next September. Still, it might encourage a few more to sign up to c2w and ask santa for a bike.
“If the government is serious
“If the government is serious about boosting the UK economy, we need” cheaper cost of energy and lower taxes.
Or … what about just giving
Or … what about just giving all these excellent US companies generating all these giant profits even less regulation than now? That money has to go somewhere – some will trickle down here, surely?
Plus we can lower energy costs by recycling the old into fuel:
https://theyesmen.org/project/exxon/talk
And driving – people buy fuel and other things when they drive, and they drive to work and the shops – clearly we should be encouraging more of that to make us all wealthier!