Tolls, Vignettes , & e-Permits

If a Frenchman drives from the south of England all the way to Scotland without using the motorways he pays no tolls, If I drive from the North of France to the South without using motorways it costs me nothing.
There is no road tax in France. What is the cost of taxes on diesel in the UK?
In the UK, roads are paid for from a variety of taxes and tolls. In France/Germany/Austria etc the roads are paid for from a slight different variety of taxes and tolls. Some are paid only by residents of that country, none are paid only by foreigners.

Just as I thought, they pay no annual road tax in France and in a way get subsidised by the rest of Europe's drivers. It is quite expensive using the motorway network in France, last time I went South it cost me 60.50 EUR, that is just one way, you can check the price for a bike here http://www.autoroutes.fr/en/routes.htm, So that's 120 EURO for a return trip to get from Calais to Cannes, it's absolutely disgraceful. The price for just this one trip is in excess of what we pay in UK for a whole year. Fair enough if you live in France and have local knowledge and the time to use the back roads instead of using the motorways, but when you are traveling large distances in a relatively short time you normaly use the motorways.
So a Frenchman who pays no road tax can come to the UK and use our motorways for free, drive from Dover to Edinburgh and never see a Payage. No wonder we have the reputation of being a soft touch.
 
Just as I thought, they pay no annual road tax in France and in a way get subsidised by the rest of Europe's drivers.
Ypu're really not understanding this are you? What is it that you think you're paying that French drivers do't pay? French drivers have to pay the inflated duty on fuel when they drive in the UK. Countries are entitled to organise the funding of their road system iun any way they choose. They're not entitled to discrimminate against foreign drivers (at least from the EU)

It is quite expensive using the motorway network in France, last time I went South it cost me 60.50 EUR, that is just one way, you can check the price for a bike here http://www.autoroutes.fr/en/routes.htm, So that's 120 EURO for a return trip to get from Calais to Cannes, it's absolutely disgraceful.
Why is it disgraceful? Who put you in charge of arbitrating how foreign countries should organise their finances?
The price for just this one trip is in excess of what we pay in UK for a whole year.
No it isn't. You're not obliged to use the autoroutes. They were built by private companies at their cost and risk. They're entitled to charge what they like and you can choose to use them or not.
Fair enough if you live in France and have local knowledge and the time to use the back roads instead of using the motorways,
May I suggest you invest in some kind of map then?
but when you are traveling large distances in a relatively short time you normaly use the motorways.
Quite, you get the benefit and you pay the price - like many things in life.
So a Frencman who pays no road tax can come to the UK and use our motorways for free, drive from Dover to Edinburgh and never see a Payage.
Not true, he'd pass the M6 toll and perhaps others. He could choose to use it or not, just like in France.
No wonder we have the reputation of being a soft touch.
Do we? I don't think so.
 
What about them coming over and claiming our benefits you haven't touched on that yet. :blast
What about the Brits coming to France and claiming their (very generous) benefits. I have a (British) friend who has just been made redundant. She gets 90% of her final salary for the first year then it falls to only 85% for the next year. Because of her commuting costs, she'll be better off ofr the first year than when she was at work.

Suffice to say, she's not exactly knocking herself our to find a new job.
 
Stolzy, The difference in the fuel duty between France and the UK is negligible, you make it sound like there is no fuel duty in France. There is no need to use the M6 toll road, French drivers can still use the normal "motorway" for free, you know the one financed by UK citizens. And if you don't think that the UK is a soft touch you need to get up to Calais and tell the thousands of immigrants trying to get across the channel into the UK the good news, why is it that the UK is always their no1 destination in Europe.

So to sum it up, A French person who pays no road tax in his own country can come to England and use our motorway network paid for by the UK's residents completely free of charge..............oh he may pay a couple of pence more for a gallon of petrol, gee whiz, that really offsets the 120 euros I will be paying on my next trip to the South of France using a similar motorway network. The motorway usage in France is paid by all users regardless of nationality where else the same network in the UK is funded solely by British drivers.
 
Stolzy, The difference in the fuel duty between France and the UK is negligible, you make it sound like there is no fuel duty in France. There is no need to use the M6 toll road, French drivers can still use the normal "motorway" for free, you know the one financed by UK citizens. And if you don't think that the UK is a soft touch you need to get up to Calais and tell the thousands of immigrants trying to get across the channel into the UK the good news, why is it that the UK is always their no1 destination in Europe.

So to sum it up, A French person who pays no road tax in his own country can come to England and use our motorway network paid for by the UK's residents completely free of charge..............oh he may pay a couple of pence more for a gallon of petrol, gee whiz, that really offsets the 120 euros I will be paying on my next trip to the South of France using a motor network. The motorway usage in France is paid by all users regardless of nationality where else the same network in the UK is funded solely by British drivers.
Like I say, there's no obligation to use the motorways in either country. The UK and France/germany/Austria choose different mixes of public and private funding of their road infrastructures; if you see that as UK subsidising French drivers, then I think the monkey is on your back.

The difference in diesel prices is almost €0.50/ltr hardly a 'couple of pence'

I'm in Calais every couple of weeks so I see that situation often. Those people are, for the most part, looking for work - there is none in France at the moment. Social benefits are far more generous in France than in the UK. If I had a choice I'd much rather be on the dole in France than the UK.
 
Like I say, there's no obligation to use the motorways in either country. The UK and France/germany/Austria choose different mixes of public and private funding of their road infrastructures; if you see that as UK subsidising French drivers, then I think the monkey is on your back.

The difference in diesel prices is almost €0.50/ltr hardly a 'couple of pence'

I'm in Calais every couple of weeks so I see that situation often. Those people are, for the most part, looking for work - there is none in France at the moment. Social benefits are far more generous in France than in the UK. If I had a choice I'd much rather be on the dole in France than the UK.

Why do you keep quoting the price of diesel? Does your motorbike run on derv? It's not because conveniently diesel prices in France are cheaper than petrol is it?

Petrol in France € 1.39
Petrol in UK €1.54
A difference of 15 cents which equates to just 11 pence.

http://www.fuel-prices-europe.info/
 
Why do you keep quoting the price of diesel? Does your motorbike run on derv? It's not because conveniently diesel prices in France are cheaper than petrol is it?

Petrol in France € 1.39
Petrol in UK €1.54
A difference of 15 cents which equates to just 11 pence.

http://www.fuel-prices-europe.info/
So your argument that the UK subsidises foreign drivers only applies to motorcycles?
 
So your argument that the UK subsidises foreign drivers only applies to motorcycles?

All vehicles Stolz, don't forget it will be a lot more expensive on the payage for larger vehicles. This is not a dig at you or French people, France is one of my favourite places, lovely people (apart from most but not all Parisians) great food, great skiing and beautiful scenery.
 
Road tax, founded in 1909 to fund road-building, was already on the way out by 1926 when Chancellor of the Exchequer Winston Churchill is reported to have said in a memo:

"Entertainments may be taxed; public houses may be taxed… and the yield devoted to the general revenue. But motorists are to be privileged for all time to have the tax on motors devoted to roads? This is an outrage upon… common sense."

The Treasury got its way, of course, and the tax was abolished in 1937, folded into general funds and replaced by Vehicle Excise Duty.

This is a tax on cars, not roads, and it goes straight into the general Treasury fund which is collected from a variety of sources. Just like our European neighbours really, the government central funds are then spent on the transportation system. There is no direct link between VED and what is spent on our roads. If your are not a motorist you could argue that you want a rebate on a facility that you never use! Many government agencies have now started calling VED "car tax" but it might be classified as a pollution tax, since it's now based on the size of engine and emissions. Ultra-low emissions vehicles are exempted so are VED free. I don't see that we are being taken advantage of by the French or anyone else. As stolzy said if you want the convenience of the peage you have the option of taking it and you pay for that option just like the French do, and we do on the M6 toll. It's got to be said that when you do get into France that there is an abundance of good, empty, challenging roads, that could have been made for bikes, usually better maintained than a lot Uk roads and the French are paying for them through their tax system and we are getting the benefit as and when we use them. C'est la vie
 
If your are not a motorist you could argue that you want a rebate on a facility that you never use!
Just because you don't drive a car doesn't mean you don't rely on the roads in some form or other. Anyway if you weren't a motorist you wouldn't be paying VED so why would you feel entitled in claiming a rebate.

This is a tax on cars, not roads

No it's not, you are free to own any vehicle and not pay VED as long as you don't use the public roads.
 
What about them coming over and claiming our benefits you haven't touched on that yet. :blast

I trust this comment was in jest. I live in Austria, if I needed benefits they are much higher than those in the UK and are available to EU citizens and so that includes us Brits. But then I don't read the bloody Daily Mail

John
 
Just because you don't drive a car doesn't mean you don't rely on the roads in some form or other. Anyway if you weren't a motorist you wouldn't be paying VED so why would you feel entitled in claiming a rebate.



No it's not, you are free to own any vehicle and not pay VED as long as you don't use the public roads.

There are some tedious, pedantic twats on this forum, but I think you take the biscuit!
 
That's a bit harsh Wessie, I was just a little bored and wanted a wee chat.
 
I would like to apologise to the O.P. for feeding the troll. I'm out.

LOL, I wasn't really trolling I always get annoyed when travelling through Europe. I'm off to Morocco in May and am travelling down through France and Spain, because of my limited time scale I will take the fastest route and have to pay the tolls which will allow me more time to explore Morocco, I was only putting my point of view across. I take it from the response no one who posted agrees with my opinion, fair enough but why the insults? Am I not allowed the freedom to debate?
 
LOL, I wasn't really trolling I always get annoyed when travelling through Europe. I'm off to Morocco in May and am travelling down through France and Spain, because of my limited time scale I will take the fastest route and have to pay the tolls which will allow me more time to explore Morocco, I was only putting my point of view across. I take it from the response no one who posted agrees with my opinion, fair enough but why the insults? Am I not allowed the freedom to debate?

If you are going to stay around you need to develop a thicker skin. This place has light moderation and some regulars are sarcastic, piss taking cúnts. Others are just plain miserable if not sociopathic. If you can't take a few jibes then the door is over there ====>
 
LOL, I wasn't really trolling I always get annoyed when travelling through Europe. I'm off to Morocco in May and am travelling down through France and Spain, because of my limited time scale I will take the fastest route and have to pay the tolls which will allow me more time to explore Morocco, I was only putting my point of view across. I take it from the response no one who posted agrees with my opinion, fair enough but why the insults? Am I not allowed the freedom to debate?

Have you even researched the alternatives? There are plenty of Autoroutes in France that are free to use - have a look here...
 


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