Sushila Dhall’s contribution to the Oxford Mail’s Issue piece (January 8), was uninformed, ignorant of the facts and, as with many Greens, her statements were very misleading.

Had she bothered to check the various parliamentary papers, she would have arrived at the following facts and figures based on UK road users’ total tax heist and not, as she infers, simply on motorists’ Vehicle Excise Duty contribution.

The total revenue from UK motorists in 2007/08 was £48 billion.

For 2009 it is estimated to be in excess of £52 billion. The revenue figures include fuel duty, vehicle excise duty, road tolls, congestion charges, VAT on fuel, insurance premium tax and VAT on vehicle sales.

If one adds in the revenue from VAT levies on car repairs, modifications, maintenance, spare parts, and routine servicing, plus the percentage of local government revenue raised via council tax for their share of the road maintenance (which reduces the amount of central government grant to local government), the revenue increases by at least a further 15 per cent a year.

The total 2009 expenditure on UK roads by the Department For Transport was £15.4 billion – a reduction of eight per cent on the previous year.

I am sure Sushila can do the arithmetic: £52 billion minus £15.4 billion equals a net profit to the central government of £36.6 billion, which they use to subsidise other non-motoring government departments, such as the grossly inefficient public transport networks’ operating subsidies – which are in excess of £3 billion a year.

I suggest Oxford households put a tick in any box other than Green at the next election.

Colin Hewetson, The Ridings, Kidlington