The price of petrol? I'm sorry, but it's far too cheap

There's the endless delays, the miserable waiting rooms and the strangers determined to strike up conversations. He sounds like a man after Jeremy Clarkson's heart, but the Top Gear presenter probably shouldn't add Prof Bamford to his Christmas card list just yet.

He might prefer to get to work and do his weekly shopping using his own four wheels, but for all his dependence on the car Prof Bamford is

emerging as an unlikely pin-up for those who think we are all too reliant on the roads. Like many motorists, he can often be overhead moaning about the cost of petrol, but his gripe is fuel is too cheap; far too cheap.

"Whenever petrol prices hit the headlines, motorists are painted as the victims," says the economist and University of Huddersfield

academic. "It's an issue people get incredibly uptight about, but when you break it down what we currently pay for fuel at the pump simply doesn't cover the cost of congestion, road maintenance and the environmental impact of cars.

"Realistically, we need to pay at least 20p or 30p more a litre. I know it's unpopular and there are whole organisations committed to reducing the price of petrol, but we need to be realistic about the future of

car travel and how we stop the whole road network grinding to a halt. "

Petrol prices have recently soared to an all-time high. The average cost of a litre of unleaded is now 121.1p, with some forecourts

charging up to 10p more.

With diesel costing anywhere between 122.3p and 134.9p, motoring groups are once again rallying support for a go-slow protest along the M62 on the May Day bank holiday.

Taking up all lanes of the motorway, the convoy is due to leave Hartshead Moor Services, near Huddersfield, at 9am and will travel at no more than 25 miles an hour to Manchester Town Hall where the protesters will be joined by more demonstrators on foot.

Similar protests are planned up and down the country and while Prof Bamford is sympathetic to the hauliers who have survived the recession only to be hit by soaring overheads, he insists a wholesale decrease in fuel prices is not sustainable in the long-term.

"Take congestion, in many towns and cities we have already reached saturation point," he says. "I live in Huddersfield and if I want to be in Leeds for 10am I have to set off at 8am. We're only talking a distance of 20 or so miles, but even then I'm not guaranteed to arrive on time.

"The problems on our roads haven't happened overnight, but successive governments have been so wary of upsetting motorists they have done nothing more than tinker around the edges of transport policy."

Historically, the cost of fuel in Britain has been higher than the rest of Europe, but in more recent years the differences have levelled out. According to latest figures from the AA, while there are still some countries like Bulgaria, Estonia and Latvia, where a litre of unleaded is still below 1, in France and Germany it's above the 120p mark and in Norway it's an eye-watering 143.8p.

Even in America, the land of the freeway, things are changing. A litre of petrol may still cost just 49.5p, but Barack Obama has announced the country's dependency on foreign oil can't continue and as the full extent of his energy policy becomes clear, car drivers know the good times of cheap fuel may soon be over.

"Economists have spent years looking at road policies and 99 per cent agree that road pricing in the way forward," says Prof Bamford. "Economists never agree on anything, so that's saying something.

"Using fuel duty, VAT and the price of petrol to determine what the motorist pays is a very blunt instrument. Basically, everyone gets hit by the same rise regardless of where or how much they drive.

"Road pricing is much fairer way of doing things. As well as fuel taxes, it would allow us to use tolls and congestion charges, including those targeted at specific times of day, specific roads and specific vehicles.

"No one is saying it will be easy to introduce, but whoever gets into power at the next General Election really does need to grasp the nettle. GPS satellite systems means road pricing is now a practical option. Yes we would need to ensure hauliers aren't priced out of business and yes we would need to ensure the poorest families weren't hit the hardest, but just because the answers may be difficult to arrive at, doesn't mean we should ignore the questions."

Supporters for road pricing cite the thousands of foreign lorries who pay nothing to drive on the UK roads, but when Tony Blair happened to mention the Government was considering how to implement such a scheme back in 2007, he felt the full force of motorists displeasure. More than 1.7 million signed an online petition posted on the Downing Street website and according to opponents nothing has changed in subsequent three years to persuade them otherwise.

"The underlying reason why petrol prices are so high is the massive rates of tax on motor fuel," says Matthew Sinclair, research director of the TayPayer's Alliance and editor of How to Cut Public Spending (and Still Win an Election). "As of February this year, 65 per

cent of the price of unleaded petrol at the pump is tax. That rate is only higher in two of the 27 member countries of the EU. For diesel, 64 per cent of the pump price is tax, which gives Britain the highest taxed diesel in Europe.

"That taxation is far more than is needed to pay for road spending or to account for road transport's greenhouse gas emissions Even after accounting for those costs, motorists are still being singled out to the tune of 18.4bn."

The TaxPayers Alliance admits part of the recent rise has been driven by a general increase in the cost of oil, but say the increase has been compounded by the weak pound, another Government failure being paid for by motorists.

"We have got used to the idea that a weaker pound is good news, as it helps exporters," says Matthew. "And of course that is true. But it does mean that our sterling-denominated incomes are worth a lot less when it comes to buying things abroad. The reason why the pound is so weak is that politicians aren't setting out credible plans to deal with our nightmarish deficit and motorists end up paying twice for their failure to get a grip on wasteful spending."

With high-speed rail networks likely to be a vital part of the next Government's transport plans, whatever it's political colour, there are fears that yet again motorists will be overlooked, vilified as damaging the environment and bringing the country to a standstill.

"To rub salt into the wound, higher spending hasn't meant a revitalised road network," adds Matthew. "Ten times as much is spent on the railways per passenger kilometre and eight times as much per freight tonne kilometre.

"We have much less motorway than our European competitors which ever way you look at it: compared to the size of the country; the

population; or the number of cars on the road.

"The transport budget is almost certain to come under huge pressure in the next few years, but politicians are still announcing grandiose rail projects. Motorists just aren't treated as a priority despite their value to the Exchequer.

"Part of the reason might be that politicians spend most of their time in Westminster where at the last census just 12 per cent of the people said they got to work by car or van. Things are very different in the rest of the country.

"If none of the parties can look outside the Westminster village for long enough to realise that appealing to motorists is in their

interests then look out for new fuel protests.

"With the raw deal motorists are getting at the moment, it's hard to argue that new protests won't be justified."