Letter: Cars: how to combat road congestion

Sir: I welcome plans to reduce car traffic, but we must be careful that we do not create an elitist society where only the very rich have cars.

A lower-income family with several children is more in need of a car than a high-earning business person who drives in to London every day rather than using the train, but it is these families who will be targeted by policies which tax car ownership and use.

Far more effective would be the taxing of businesses per employee who drives to work, and encouraging those businesses to offer incentives to employees who switch to public transport. Another huge reduction in car traffic would be gained by more incentives for people to work from home using computer, modem and fax.

BEATRICE J PURSER

Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire