THERE are few things that get right up the average person's nose, but the present attacks on the legitimate motorist is one of them. Therefore, it is time for motorists to unite as a protesting force, for the legitimate motorist is nothing more than tax fodder.

If you own a vehicle of any type and you abide by the law, you are Target Number One.

Scams thought up by the Government have one purpose in mind, to extract as much cash from you as possible. The new, failure to renew your road tax licence scam, £80 in the first instance with no appeal, has closely been followed by the parking more than 50cms from the kerb scam.

And, of course, you know of all the others: Higher road tax, speed cameras (faulty ones included), parking charges, especially at hospitals and the like, where the charges are little short of theft.

Fines for being trapped in yellow boxes or deemed to be stopped too near a junction (at the wardens discretion) and we know how reliable they are, increases in insurance, insurance tax, increases in duty etc.

To be critical of the Government is one thing, to attack it is another and on this front I charge it with doing nothing about the thousands of legitimate motorists who will continue to escape the attentions of the DVLA.

For never having registered for road tax, they will not appear on their computer and will continue to flout the law with impunity. They escape insurance, MOTs and, in most instances, driving tests and licence expenses.

In the few cases where they are brought before the courts and are fined, they blissfully walk away with grins on their faces, knowing that the likelihood of having to pay the fine is almost nil.

They, too, know of scams of a different kind: false addresses, names, documentation, number plates, all these and more, allow them to speed through flashing cameras, not pay at petrol stations, litter the pavement with parking tickets and so it goes on.

So, what do we do? How about an alternative policy like fines for parking on the pavement, already an offence but rarely enforced. Treble the fines for drink and drug-related offences. Quadruple the fines for driving while banned, with no licence, no insurance no MOT.

Encourage insurance companies to give at least 20 per cent refund per annum to non-claimants with a free policy at the fifth year and impose a windfall tax on all companies who fail to comply.

The Government to invest in introducing plating of all vehicles, as is done in the USA, these to include insurance, road tax, MOT, photo and comprehensive ID of owner.

This would help to reduce crime and provide work for miscreants who failed to pay fines by a given time and, as a result, would be sentenced to hard labour in work camps. The Government is going to have to recruit vast numbers of enforcers to collect the cash from all the present scams and those it intends to introduce in the future.

Therefore, a special force will have to be recruited, trained and placed in position to replace the police who will in turn concentrate on the real criminals. These new enforcers will run the work camps alongside their other duties.

There is another alternative if all this turns your stomach, it is, that all legitimate motorists unite, vote with their feet.

R HARVEY-MORGAN, Barnes Avenue, Rawtenstall.