When former PM Tony’s ‘secret policemen’ hit our roads in their droves over the past decade, I just knew and not merely deep down inside that we, the other road-users, were about to be fleeced by our government, yet again. When you consider that most of their shiny new, VOSA-bedecked Shoguns, CR-Vs, Discos and Land-Bruisers would constitute yet another government-sponsored transport fleet, that was only the superficial display.

What lay beneath those apparently clear waters was a degree of subterfuge that demonstrated beyond all comprehension that Blair and his bad-banker-loving cronies were so paranoid that they would do anything to stop the voter from knowing too much. As far as road-users were concerned, other than their Right Honourable selves, of course, we were despised and considered to be the root of all evil, worth punishing beyond belief by whatever means were available, for whatever ‘reason’ that might be raised.

As we all know, the vast majority of speed cameras in the UK have been switched off, since Cameron and the ConDemn’s came to power …not that they were ever really switched on that much in the first place. Yet, with another increase in spending, Blair’s lot managed to invest millions in mobile detector vans and ANPR devices that succeeded in muddying the waters even further during his interminable reign.

A recent House of Commons Public Accounts Committee revealed, in these days of ‘open government’ that no less than £3.4bn worth of M25 road-widening and roadway maintenance had been squandered. With a degree of temerity, it even admitted that a further £1bn was needed to augment the original programme. This has been for one wretched motorway that Mrs Thatcher’s cohorts signed off, without caring to consider that it was traffic volume inadequate, when its first roadways were laid.

Let me factor in an additional cost of which you might not be aware. Since 2005, no less than £80m has been spent on various freeloading, ill-advising, over-estimating consultants, who were purportedly adding some value to the programme. This money, OUR money, has been mishandled by the Highways Agency, of which VOSA is but one element, which reports to The Department for Transport.

To say that its top heavy (dis)organisation is responsible for levying out no less than £150m in salaries to its over-numerous, flagrant-spending, self-aggrandising and incompetent staff, who just so happened to secure ‘friends’ in other higher places (yes, I am talking ‘retirement jobs’ here), is just another component of the overall headache. If you think that the MPs’ expenses scandal was both torrid and shocking enough in its ability to generate intense antipathy, start directing your ire at the Highways Agency, because its smokescreen almost deserves as much (if not more) bile as those evil bankers ever did.

While appreciating that the appropriate Minister’s role carries about as much desirability as holding down the Northern Ireland post, I personally feel that it is about time that these people became accountable and not allowed to hide behind their rosewood and brass-cornered desks. Had even a small percentage of that money been directed at Road Safety or genuinely improving the lot for motorists, we would have all been better off today. It is time for a revolt. The current government has been in its position for long enough. Cuts are not the answer. Proper management might be the start.

Iain Robertson

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