Manchester congestion charge: bus company gags council

Bus shelters all over the area are carrying pictures of strangely dull-witted looking people who, we are invited to believe, will be voting in favour of the charge because they won’t have to pay. In a case of ‘tail wags dog’ one of the privately-run bus operators in Greater Manchester has decided that (the elected) Stockport council may not put its case against the congestion charge on the sides of buses.

This anti-democratic move is clearly motivated by the pursuit of profit. Stagecoach shareholders would love it if cars were banned altogether, and it is very much in their interests to see this costly intrusive scheme brought in at our expense.