Fears Over Privacy on Road Charging ; POLITICS

Plans to protect drivers’ privacy when road pricing schemes are introduced may not be tough enough, a report from MPs said yesterday. The Government must not deny local people a chance to air their views on local road pricing schemes, the report from the House of Commons Transport Committee added.

The potential intrusion into individuals’ privacy represented by the monitoring of vehicle movements was “a significant and legitimate concern”, MPs said. This concern was tending to “undermine public support for road pricing schemes”, said the committee which was reporting its views on the draft Local Transport Bill.

The MPs went on: “Although witnesses were confident that the technology was available to collect charges while protecting drivers’ privacy, we are not convinced that the current statutory framework is sufficiently robust to address these concerns. The Government must ensure that its statutory guidance relating to protecting privacy in charging schemes is tough enough.”

The committee said the Bill included powers for Passenger Transport Authorities to arrange local road pricing schemes with local councils, with the Transport Secretary in future not being responsible for the approval of local charging schemes in England or for ordering public consultations.

The committee said it found this unacceptable since proper public consultation was “fundamental”.

Committee’s chief Gwyneth Dunwoody MP added: “We are not convinced that the current statutory framework is sufficiently robust to address concerns about drivers’ privacy.”

Comment, page 10

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