Will 'congestion busters' leave you in slow lane?

Alistair Darling, the Transport Secretary, has announced that the Government is looking at the introduction of “Congestion Busting” lanes
on certain motorways in UK. These dedicated high occupancy vehicle (HOV) or carpool lanes will be reserved for vehicles carrying two or more people in an attempt to encourage car sharing.
At the moment the scheme is planned for peak periods, with sections of M1, M3, M61 and M62 the likely sites and the police, rather than cameras, will be responsible for enforcement. Alistair Darling wants to make the best use of scarce resources on our roads and argues:
“Carpool lanes are part of the Government's commitment to provide better service to road users, by cutting congestion and improving journey times.”
We wonder if he has yet thought of the disabled motorists who may have to travel alone in their vehicles – perhaps the rest of the vehicle is needed for a wheelchair and other associated equipment. He would surely agree that in such cases, a disabled motorist should be able to drive, alone, in the new lanes.
We also know that, in spite of increased investment in making public transport accessible, many disabled people still have little choice but to use their car. In that case, shouldn't they have the right to get to their destination as quickly as possible?
There will be many, including some of our readers, who believe disabled motorists haven't really got a case for special treatment; they should simply have to make the effort to car share in the same way as other drivers We'll be making your views known to the Government
– so let's have them!

Driving a bus through our hopes

Whichever way you look at what happened on the day the Green Party election bus pulled into Gloucester city centre, it is clear it was parking itself in a whole lot of trouble. Being charitable, it seems they planned ahead and followed the instructions of the local constabulary after first rejecting a spot suggested by the city council.
What more could they do? The fact that an eager BBC reporter saw his opportunity and got his story for Newsnight could be viewed as bad luck for the Green Party. (A party worker on the bus says they were also the victims of a selective use of quotes, but if they fancy their chances as a mainstream party, they must be big enough to handle the media.)
More importantly, the party with perhaps the most progressive policies on disabled transport should know only too well that a disabled parking bay is sacrosanct.
It should not matter who has told them they can park there: we would expect Green Party workers to stand up for what they say they believe in. If the Green Party will park in a disabled bay, what hope is there for us ever persuading the general population to keep out?
To his credit, the Greens' disability spokesman saw the error clearly enough and apologised "unreservedly".
It really doesn't matter about excuses, who told whom what and the fact that Gloucester has an enviable array of disabled parking bays ready to accommodate those displaced by their bus.
As for the police happily confirming they told the Green Party to drive a bus though our expectations because the bay is also used for loading and unloading, we are, frankly, baffled. Our man on the ground could see no evidence of signage marking it out as a loading bay, only the expected disabled parking notices. If anyone can tell us how this works, we'd love to hear from them.
Meanwhile, still on parking bays, we would like to congratulate Asda on its success in the first Baywatch awards. The supermarket group has been at the vanguard of moves to beat bay abuse and are deserved winners.