Barely able to afford to live now, and with huge tax rises promised to pay for Labour's obscene borrowings, we simply cannot afford to find yet another forty pounds per week for the congestion charge, which it would be in our case, just to get to work, especially as neither my wife or I work near a bus or tram route. Astonishingly, not everybody works with a hundred yards of Piccadilly Bus Station!

Also what is there to stop the charges rising rapidly, bus fares rising and tram fares rising? The powers-that-be have ensured that there will be no restrictions on that happening, which is a worrying sign! Will the government see the charge revenue as a new source of tax revenue to plunder?

In the current economic climate, once they get the green light to go ahead with the scheme, will we be given even more of the costs to find so the charges will have to rise almost immediately? Since the plans were drawn-up the entire economy has collapsed so is anybody naive enough to think the government will find well over two billion pounds to fund it when they haven't enough in the coffers to buy a box of paper clips? Sorry, the answer must be a resounding no.

Philip Codd, Davyhulme