[jambutty]

If you read my post and understood what was written bullseyebarb you should have noted that my suggestion isn’t to increase taxes but a shift on how they are collected.

I can unequivocally confirm that the current higher rate of DLA is £43.45 per week paid at 4 weekly intervals to the sum of £173.80. If some or all the money is used to lease a Motability car it is paid direct to Motability and the balance, if any, is paid to the recipient.

Can I remind the reader that the Road Fund License, to give it its official name, was introduced to pay for the repair of roads and to pay for new ones to be built. Those roads being those that are not the responsibility of town and city councils. The maintenance of those being paid for out of council income although the borderline is more blurred than that. The RFL should have been ‘ring fenced’ but it wasn’t. However the idea was that the motorist paid to use the roads. The RFL has always been unfair in that someone who travelled 50,000 miles in a year would cause more wear and tear on the roads than someone who only travelled 5,000 miles pa yet both made the same contribution to the ‘repair fund’. It’s a bit like everyone paying a fixed price for their bread and you can take as many loaves as you want.

Maybe you should read what has already been posted steeljack. In my post #27 I wrote

“To qualify for the higher rate of DLA the applicant has to demonstrate severe walking difficulties. These are generally seen to be experiencing pain whilst walking or not being able to walk at all (like a lower limb amputee) or needing the assistance of someone else to walk. The distance is generally seen as about 50 yards. I think that there is also an age limit on first qualifying for DLA. Thus a 90 years old crippled with arthritis and barely able to stand let alone walk would not qualify for DLA. But I don’t know what that age limit is. To qualify for DLA an applicant has to go thorough medical tests as well as getting corroboration of their condition from their own doctor not just on the application form but also on an independent form that is sent to the doctor.”

I think that you are right Ianto.W. in that you have to be under 65, for men, (I’m not sure what the age is for women) to apply for DLA and once granted it continues until death or the person is taken into a care home and the like. Also the lease agreement does not allow me to drive any other car on my Motability insurance nor can any other insured driver drive my car, unless I have officially nominated them as my co-driver. I can have two co-drivers and either can use my car but only if I am in it as a passenger or they are doing an errand on my behalf. This rule does get exploited by some though, in the same way that friends and relatives of Blue Badge holders exploit that award. Which reminds me Ianto.W. if you get DLA you will also qualify for a Blue Badge but you have to apply for it. However you can get a Blue Badge even if you do not qualify for DLA and the Blue Badge is for you not your car. Also you can ask the council to mark out a disabled bay in front of your house. Not that it has any legal standing. It would need a plaque on an adjacent wall, lamppost and the like to make the bay road legal.

I hope that you do get the higher rate of DLA Ianto.W. because it will make one heck of a difference to your financial situation. Motoring expenses will be limited to fuel. And when it comes to your state pension it will affect that to your advantage as well.