Face up to facts – cars put money into our economy (From Croydon Guardian)

Face up to facts – cars put money into our economy

12:46pm Wednesday 14th July 2004 in

• Skip social links
• Print
• Email
•  

If, in the last five years, Croydon residents have felt ripped off by Croydon Council's car parking charges and ruthless fines regime, then surely figures recently released prove the point.

In 2002/3 Croydon Council charged a staggering £19million for car parking and fines, up 93 per cent since 1997/8 and well in excess of any of the other outer London boroughs, which on average collected only £5million each.

To put these figures further into perspective, neighbouring Bromley charged only £6.8million, up by 36 per cent over the same period and neighbouring Sutton only £4.5million, up 45 per cent.

By contrast Croydon's trams contribute nothing financially to the local community and indeed are subsidised out of local taxes to the tune of some £9million per year.

They take priority over cars on several Croydon thoroughfares and their routes are permanently monitored by real time camera operatives who issue instant £60 fines to any car driver who might accidentally dare to stray into their path.

Surely it's time to stop all this anti-car rhetoric and make clear how much poorer Croydon Council would be if we didn't use our cars.

RM Thomson Glebe Hyrst Sanderstead