Motoring

I, too, suspect that the cost would be minimal. It would be interesting to know whether the Minister has any idea of the cost that would be entailed. The hon. Gentleman also made a point about insurance. I should declare an interest because I used to work for the RAC on its Norwich Union contracts before entering the House. As hon. Members might be aware, Norwich Union introduced a trial for pay-as-you-drive insurance. I was disappointed that it decided not to go ahead with that idea because it could reduce the cost of insurance for safer drivers, people who drive on safe roads, people who drive at times of the day when accidents are less likely and those who drive only occasionally, such as people who use their car once a week to go to the shops. I urge the insurance companies to consider that issue again, because that proposal would be a fair way of reducing insurance premiums for a number of less regular drivers. I disagree with the hon. Gentleman about the cost of motoring because it is simply a myth that it has become more expensive. The Road Users Alliance claims that motorists pay huge amounts of tax but get nothing back. It is certainly true that the price of petrol and diesel has increased significantly in the past 12 months, but the overall cost of motoring has gone down significantly since 1997. That has happened for a number of reasons, for example because cars have become significantly cheaper. I do not tend to tell people this, but I bought a Daewoo Lanos in 1999. Those people who like cars claim that they are pretty rubbish—I would have to say that I probably agree. However, I purchased the car for £8,000 in 1999. When I changed my car eight years later, in 2007, the price of a better model Daewoo Lanos was less than what I paid in 1999. People can also now make smarter choices to affect the amount of vehicle excise duty that they pay. When I bought my new car in 2007, my VED decreased to £35, because of the vehicle that I chose to buy. The cost of my fuel halved because I went from a very fuel-inefficient car to a fuel-efficient car—I now get twice as many miles to the gallon than with my previous car. My boss, my hon. Friend the Member for Lewes (Norman Baker), tabled a parliamentary question through which he uncovered the real cost of motoring and the proof that the cost of motoring had actually fallen. The reply told him that there had been a 13 per cent. reduction in the real-terms cost of motoring between 1997 to 2009. In comparison, there has been a real-terms increase in the cost of bus and coach travel of 17 per cent. over the same period, and a real-terms increase in rail fares of 7 per cent. My hon. Friend said:""These figures show starkly just what a raw deal train and bus passengers have had out of this Government, and that car drivers, for all the moans about fuel prices, have done rather well. While Ministers are busy preaching about cutting carbon emissions, the Department for Transport has allowed polluting transport to become cheaper and cleaner transport to become more expensive. The Department is clearly part of the carbon problem rather than part of the carbon solution.""