Rather than generalising, I think we should consider how some road users (and non driving council tax payers) are subsidising other road users. The OAP using their old Jaguar only 2000 miles per year is massively subsidising in VED the travelling rep clocking up 25,000 miles and the HGV with 75,000 miles. My wife drives a small car only ~1000 miles per year, almost all of which are on a rural B road to our shopping town and back, without passing a single traffic light to maintain, or ever seeing a policeman to employ, or passing a road sign that she has any need for. While I am not saying she should pay nothing (as a nephew of ours does with a large new car - don't ask me why), she is certainly subsidising others with VED and insurance premiums. She has never made an insurance claim in her life yet insurance companies complain they are in poverty, so someone somewhere is enjoying her money.
My view is that the HGV industry and high mileage driving generally, is riding on the back of millions of low mileage car owners who "cannot do without their car no matter how expensive and illogical it is for them to own one".
If they really wanted to tax/penalise either road usage or CO2 emissions, they would put almost all of that tax/penalty on fuel, and add a premium if you did not have a garage or driveway to park off the road.
As for myself, I drive a large car a smallish mileage and pay about 10x the VED per mile as a typical big HGV artic does. Yet we are told that it would cost £billions to repair the nation's road potholes, and that the overwhelming cause of road damage is HGVs (proportional 3rd or 4th power of the axle load or something). Will the HGV owners be paying that? Yes, when pigs fly.
