MR CROSS of Linlithgow goes to great lengths to tell us how much money is being spent on bikes, e-bikes and e-scooters and intimates that people buying these items can also well afford to pay to use the roads (‘Cyclists should be paying to use the roads’, Your say, Press, June 24).

Unfortunately, Mr Cross would have had made better use of his time finding out just how the UK tax system works.

Existing motorists do not “pay for the roads” despite cars, vans, lorries and buses inflicting all the damage on these roads, so why should cyclists?

‘Road Tax’, despite the phrase being in common usage, has not applied to cars since the 1940s as far as I’m aware. It was replaced by Vehicle Excise Duty, which is now calculated by the emissions from the vehicle.

So, in theory, you can drive a two-ton electric vehicle on the road which will pay exactly the same duty as those cyclists Mr Cross seems to have an issue with!

As for the Highway Code, hi-vis clothing etc: great ideas, which more and more cyclists already use.

However, there will always be bad cyclists as there will always be bad motorists and pedestrians.

Please pick on one of these groups next, Mr Cross.

Martin McLeary,
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