It's not often, these days, that this column finds itself agreeing with Her Majesty's Opposition. But it's hard to disagree with Tory transport spokesman Bernard Jenkins when he says the government is showing desperation by suggesting cut price taxis for supermarket shoppers to ease traffic congestion. The plan, reported to be "under consideration in Whitehall," ranks as the daftest wheeze yet from Tony Blair's Department of Silly Ideas. And even though Easter often marks the start of the Silly Season, I'm astonished that even this whacky administration could come up with such a wild notion. Supermarket groups are expressing amazement but I'm left wondering if it's merely a hastily devised PR stunt to show that Prescott and Co are actually trying to do something different to tackle congestion. However, on the basis that anything's possible from Prescott and his gang, it's fair to assume the scheme wasdeliberately leaked, in traditional New Labour style, to gain reaction from the world at large. The geniuses who dreamed up the idea would do well to consider a few points. First, statistics prove that most congestion is caused by workers' traffic, and not by shoppers. In fact, the figures also reveal that shopping related journeys only account for some 11% of total car movement. So a taxi service, as the BRC pointed out this week, would be pretty useless in the overall scheme of things. In addition, the multiples have already spent millions organising subsidised bus schemes so it seems unfair to force them to stump up even more cash. We've known for a long time that New Labour's Transport Policy is a shambles, given the number of occasions John Two Jags' Prescott has opened his mouth and put his foot in it. But the taxi plan should be dumped as quickly as it was devised. As we have said before, Prescott must rebuild our shambolic and tacky public transport infrastructure, starting with the buses. Until that happens he'll never persuade grocery shoppers to abandon their cars. Clive Beddall, Editor {{OPINION }}