Pay-as-you-drive car tax planned
UK cars could be fitted with satellite receivers within 10 years as part of a pay-as-you-drive tax scheme that will further boost the rapid advance of GPS technology.
UK cars could be fitted with satellite receivers within 10 years as part of a pay-as-you-drive tax scheme that will further boost the rapid advance of GPS technology.
Link: Government tackles car tax evaders
The plan is currently being considered by transport minister Alistair Darling. If approved, the country’s 24 million cars would be tracked using GPS technology, and taxed individually depending on when and where and how much they have driven.
The scheme is just the latest in a series of satellite-based announcements that promise to revolutionise global transport:
The government has already committed itself to a lorry tracking system to go live in 2006. Data will be used to calculate road tax.
The potential of the technology is clear but instituting a national system would be fraught with problems, according to motoring organisations.
‘It’s great in theory, but the DVLA records are 10% inaccurate as it is at the moment,’ said AA spokesman Richard Freeman.
‘There will need to be a huge overhaul of all the systems that track drivers.’
‘Security of the information and how it is fed through, and how accurate it is, is obviously going to be an issue whoever you are,’ said Karen Dee, director of policy at the Road Haulage Association.