Labour is 'milking motorists'
May 6, 2009
The government has been accused of “milking” motorists by hitting them with speeding fines.
David Ruffley, Tory police spokesperson, made the comment after he released figures which claim that these penalties earn the Treasury as much as £10,000 per hour and £250,000 each day.
The statistics suggested that motorists were hit with charges of £88 million in 2007, up from £28.5 million ten years earlier.
Mr Ruffley commented that the government has been using drivers as a “cash cow”.
Mr Ruffley went on to say that it is “no wonder” that speed cameras are unpopular among British drivers: “Motorists have been milked by a Labour government desperate to fund a decade of spend, spend, spend.”
A spokesperson for the Environmental Transport Association (ETA) said: “There is perhaps an argument to be made against excessive motoring taxes, but speeding fines are a penalty for breaking the law, which is quite different.”
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Information correct at time of publication.