James Avery’s blog

Last Friday, I got on an early evening train to London, at a time when services are often pretty busy, but I managed to get a seat fairly easily in the back of the train, and noticed that there was still a fair few other spaces available.  If there’s one thing I really try to avoid as much as possible when travelling by train, it is having to stand.  Unless I really do have to be someone at a specific time, I will always rather be on a late train than an overcrowded one.  Friday’s train was typical for this time of the day, and the senior conductors often make announcements advising passengers who were seated in the vestibule areas to move further back, where they can get a seat inside the carriage.  On this occasion, the senior conductor made an announcement that one of the first class carriages would be ‘ declassified ‘, meaning that any passenger in a standard class could go and sit there, without having to pay for any upgrade.  I’ll always go first class when possible, but I was already recently comfortable in my seat, until a screaming baby started disturbing the peace.  Other didn’t have my noise cancelling headphones with me, I decided it was time to move forward, even if all first class seats might have been taken.

When I got to the first class section, I found that the opposite was true — out of 47 seats, just 13 had been taken, 14 including myself — less than one third of the available seats.  Meanwhile, as I move through the train, I noted that virtually all the vestibule areas were crammed by people sitting next to the doors, some with heavy luggage, but many would not think other than a small rucksack.  Dad often says that the nation will only get the politicians it deserves, and I would have to concur that the kind of apathy displayed on Friday evening, and that I regularly see on the trains, will also do little to improve the standard of service passengers will get.  What was the point of a senior conductor offering this extra space if passengers do not take advantage of it?  This might have only been a very small part of the overcrowding problem — and I have still never heard a good explanation about why InterCity trains have as many first-class coaches are they do, and I’ve yet to hear anyone observing the first class section being full without it being declassified.  However, I’ve also been on trains on numerous occasions when the overcrowding has been dire, but the senior conductor has not declassified any first class carriages.  Sometimes, they just need to be asked, but in my experience, few passengers could be bothered to do this.  It certainly helps to speak their lingo — ‘ this train is to overcrowded, can I sit in first class ‘ is never done get the same result as ‘ are you going to be de-classifying first-class this evening.’

Having a seat reservation is always a useful advantage on a crowded train, but most people would feel pretty squeamish at the prospect of asking an elderly passenger, or a mother with children to move from the seat they had booked (hint hint — in this scenario, the chances of getting one of the moved to first-class increases dramatically).  Failing that, I would personally rather get off and wait for the next train, as there can often be huge differences in occupancy levels between one service and the next.  This can be especially true if the train you on is the first train outside the peak restrictions, or if it’s travelling through somewhere that is likely to generate large amounts of traffic at a specific time (e.g. a football match).  I can’t speak the early morning commuters into London, but between the different measures mentioned above, I virtually always managed to get a seat, even on the very busiest of trains.

I’ve lost count of the number of people who have tried to get me join Facebook groups, or sign petitions against the recent fuel price rises.  There are two very simple reasons why the price of fuel is so high — one is a simple combination of supply and demand, which as a free marketeer I can’t complain about, and the other is the rate of duty the UK government imposes on petrol and diesel.

Many people might quite reasonably argue that fuel duty is extortion, but our government needs to get its money somehow, and just as we haven’t really heard how a Conservative government would reinstate the 10p tax bracket, I’m not really convinced that anyone has any serious proposals to reduce the tax rate on fuel, without a commensurate increase in other taxes, such as income tax.  So to anyone who is protesting about the cost of fuel, I have one simple question — which would you rather have higher income tax, or higher tax on fuel? Personally, I’ll take the tax on fuel any day, for one simple reason — it is much easier for most people to avoid fuel tax than it is to avoid income tax.

Having listened to the the news today, it seems that Gordon Brown will do everything he can to tap on other international leaders’ shoulders, and deflect attention away from his own government’s contribution to the high cost of fuel, so whether we like it or not, high fuel prices are going to be with us for a long time coming.  People can protest all they want, but even if there are reductions in fuel duty, these are only likely to knock a few pence off the cost of fuel at the pumps. Across The Pond, It also looks like Hillary Clinton’s promise  of a fuel tax holiday will shortly die a death, along with her presidential campaign, and I’ll have to say that I wish a good riddance to them both.

I know it is easy for me to say that people who really want to reduce their fuel bill should buy a smaller car, or convert to LPG, but I think it is far more sensible to try and leave the car at home and try walking or cycling.  Try doing this for just one week, and you might well find that there is a lot more on your doorstep than you might think.  Apart from the money saved, there are huge health benefits to be gained from cycling even just a few short miles each day, not to mention the environmental benefits that any self-powered transport brings.  For longer journeys, I’ve always felt that going by train is a much better use of time, especially when travelling to and from London where congestion alone makes driving there unthinkable, long before any additional charges come into account.

• The non fuel protest Facebook group