Letters: Fairer alternatives to motorway tolls

From Mr Alasdair Hamblin

Sir: Like Charles Arthur ("Foreign trippers to stretch system", 1 August), I have been wondering how the high-technology solutions mooted for motorway tolling would cope with visitors from abroad. The more I think about it, the more it strikes me that something sinister is afoot.

Imagine a motorway of the year 2001. As you pass invisibly through a radio toll, you smile secretly to yourself, content in the knowledge that although the speed limit may now be 115 km/h and milk comes in one-litre cartons, the Germans, the Belgians and best of all, the French have to wait in an hour-long queue for the solitary kiosk that still accepts cash. Oh, and so too does the underclass, which cannot afford to install the necessary in-car equipment.

Yours faithfully,

Alasdair Hamblin

Colchester, Essex

1 August