The School Run

EXCLUSIVITY comes at a price.

And for just a few pounds mothers on the school run can stand out from the pack by taking their child to school in a shopping trolley.

If that’s not your thing – and Jake’s mother already has one (from Harrods!) – there remain other options, notably the legs, the pushbike and the Filipino piggyback, whereby the home help is seconded into the fray (mothers may care to organise races).

Or there’s always the Panzer tank. Although, of course, you already have on of those, albeit one wearing a badge that says Mercedes, Audi or BMW.

But all that is to change. The front page of the Times brings news to cheer and to chill. “Sales of 4x4s slump,” says the headline. The “gas-guzzling” Chelsea tractor is falling out of favour.

And what is more those already in possession of these fortified chid carriers are finding them harder to sell. The second-hand price of one of these vehicles is plummeting.

According to figures supplied by the Society of Motor Manufacturers, sales of these vehicles fell by 15 per cent last month compared with November 2005. Sales have fallen every month this year.

And why? The Times thinks it knows. It says it is all done to the Chancellor, who introduced a new top-rate of vehicle tax of £215.

Cars that emit more than 225g of carbon dioxide per kilometre (Band G) are up for this higher rate. These cars include the BMW X5, Land Rover Discovery, Mitsubishi Shogun and Toyota Land Cruiser.

And then there is Ken Livingstone, the miserabilist mayor of London. Ken is considering lifting the congestion charge for vehicles entering central London from £8 to £25 (that’s a day).

And the London borough of Richmond has recently announced its intention to treble the price of a parking permit for such vehicles to £300 a year.

This is all very punitive. But surely all that will happen is that the arrivistes, the hangers-oners, the wannabes who bought into the dream of a personal tank will fall by the wayside.

In time, only the rich will be able to operate such vehicles. And they will once more become exclusive.

And for that, the rich will have the Labour Government to thank. Hurrah!

Posted: 6th, December 2006 | In: Uncategorized Comment | TrackBack | Permalink