Browse Sections
Interactive
Popular Sections
Partly cloudyNews
| 
Submit Comments
Mark and Jacqui Melhuish vow to continue their congestion charge protest in the courts.
We’ll go to jail rather than pay C-charge
by Annette Lord20/ 6/2008
A DISABLED man and his wife have vowed to go to prison rather than pay the congestion charge.
Mark Melhuish, 40, is so incensed at plans to charge motorists travelling into Manchester that he told the Advertiser: "I'll see the council in court first."
The anti toll tax campaigner from Laburnum Road, Gorton, who attended protests when the proposals were first mooted, reckons it will cost him around £20 a week to get to hospital appointments if they clash with the times the charges are in operation.
He regularly needs to visit Hope and Wythenshawe hospitals and Manchester Royal Infirmary because of heart problems, severe arthritis and sleep apnoea, where he stops breathing during sleep.
He said: "As a disabled person who drives a Motability car I may be exempt from paying any charge. But even if that is the case I am totally opposed to a charge that puts my fellow car users at a disadvantage.
"I think it's a whitewash. It's just ridiculous. I'm dead against it and always will be.
"I'm quite prepared to go to prison if I'm forced to, I feel so strongly about it. I will happily spend the rest of my life in jail if needs be to make my point.
"It is just another tax. It is bad for everyone, bad for local communities and Greater Manchester people as a whole.
"They do need to do something about congestion but they have caused it in the first place by putting bus lanes in everywhere and changing traffic light signals in their favour."
Mark's wife Jacqui, 56, is right behind her man and is also prepared to join him in a cell.
She said: "It's mad. They haven't thought it through.
"I will spend the rest of my life in Styal prison if I have to. Even if Mark is exempt I still couldn't agree with it. It is another tax on the poor old motorist.
"If the people who use public transport want to improve it, let them pay for it."
She added: "I think there should be a referendum. Richard Leese will say no to that because he knows what the answer would be – people would say no."
Most recent 1 of 1 user comments
Got an opinion you want to share?Which way will you vote in the congestion charge referendum?
| Card | BT Fee |
| Virgin Credit Card | 2.98% |
| Capital One Low Rate Balance Transfer | 1.7% |
| Capital One Low Rate Platinum | HASH(0x2abf0665be60) |
| Capital One Fixed Rate Card | 0.0% |
| Company | Typical APR |
| Platinum Exclusive Loan | 7.8% |
| Halifax (Semi-exclusive) | 8.6% |
| Bank of Scotland (Semi-exclusive) | 8.6% |
| Alliance & Leicester | 8.7% |
| Lloyds TSB | 8.9% |
| Provider | AER* |
|
ICICI BANK HiSAVE Savings Account |
5.50% |
|
ANGLO IRISH BANK Easy Access Account Issue 2 |
5.25% |
|
FIRST DIRECT Everyday e-Saver |
2.75% |
|
ALLIANCE & LEICESTER Online Tracker |
4.75% |
|
BRADFORD & BINGLEY eSavings 6 |
4.60% |
|
SAINSBURYS FINANCE Internet Saver |
3.50% |
|
ALLIANCE & LEICESTER eSaver - Issue 2 |
5.00% |
|
POST OFFICE Instant Saver |
3.75% |
Nobody else pays for the road improvements that we are supposed to get for our car tax, so why should drivers subsidise the public transport system?
It's bad enough having to watch this back-handed council, manufacture the congestion; without having to pay extra for the privilige. I mean, do people think that 2 lane roads are being cut to 1 lane for safety reasons? Or are they being cut to increase congestion to provide some fictional motive for the congestion charge? If you want to see this in effect, drive down Hyde Road under the railway bridge near BOC to see how they do it.
Then again, we live in a city where the politicians would have us believe that after spending £3bn pounds, they're not going to get that back somehow... People actually believe that we're going to get all these buses and trains and they're going to magically fund their usage. Remember, the £3bn is a setup grant, not a running cost grant. Once it is up and running, someone is going to have to pay to keep it all running... and no doubt the car drivers will be expected to pay for that too.
23/06/2008 at 20:26