VICTIMS' LEVY

02 Jan 2010

Commenting on the Government's proposals to introduce a £15 victims’ levy on fixed penalty notices, 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 penalized for committing relatively minor offences is fair, and not just some arbitrary figure.

"If these offences have serious consequences then drivers will find themselves in court where a proportionate compensation figure can be set. More generally, if money needs to be set aside for victims then this should be coming out of the existing charges."