Motorists face new £15 'victims levy'
Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2010 12:36 pmMotorists face new £15 'victims levy'
'Stealth tax denial'
However, ministers believe the amount raised could be significantly increased if it was extended to include people issued with on-the-spot fines or fixed penalty notices.
This could include motorists caught speeding or flouting parking restrictions and those guilty of disorder offences such as shoplifting, writing graffiti or being drunk and disorderly.
Under the plans, a fine of £60 for speeding, using a mobile phone while driving or not wearing a seatbelt would be increased to £75.
Professor Stephen Glaister, director of the RAC Foundation, said: "You will have a hard job convincing motorists this is anything other than a stealth tax to shore up a creaking system strapped for cash.
"Motorists need to obey the rules of the road but they also have to believe what they get penalised for committing relatively minor offences is fair, and not just some arbitrary figure."
He argued that if money was needed to be set aside for victims, it should come out of existing charges.
Government officials, however, deny the move amounts to a stealth tax.