Council bosses are being accused of misleading voters over traffic congestion to get their hands on millions of pounds of extra road taxes.
 
Despite an expensive propaganda campaign by Greater Manchester traffic chiefs (1), to convince that peak time traffic congestion to the city centre is heading for gridlock, official council statistics show a massive 14.4% fall in the number of cars travelling in to the city centre during the morning peak since 1999 (2). The charge of council double-dealing comes from Manchester Against Road Tolls (MART).
 
Rob Adlard, Conservative Spokesman for Manchester's City Centre says:

"This proves what many have felt instinctively all along. The charge is simply another stealth tax in order to cover for the lack of genuine government investment in Manchester since the previous government allocated the funds for Metro lines yet un-built. We want investment without blackmail."

The statistics also show that peak period car use is down in all but one of the 10 council boroughs of Greater Manchester (3), and a report commissioned by those who advocate the congestion charge found that "There has been no detectable increase in traffic congestion on local roads over the last year" (4).
 
ABD and MART co-ordinator Sean Corker says:

"This revelation marks a watershed moment in the Toll Tax debate. Manchester Council can never again claim with any credibility that the congestion charge is about tackling congestion. Their scheme is nothing more then a dishonest, greedy tax on hard working motorists."

Key Centre Vehicle counts 7.30am - 9.30am Peak
 
Bolton DOWN 5.8%
Bury DOWN 6.4%
Manchester DOWN 14.4%
Rochdale DOWN 1.5%
Stockport DOWN 11.9%
Ashton DOWN 6.8%
Altrincham DOWN 21%
Wigan DOWN 14.9%
Oldham UP 5.5%
Eccles DOWN 22.1%