An experiment in open government appears to have backfired on the Prime Minister, thanks to a man from Telford and his computer. Peter Roberts is opposed to the introduction of road pricing, so he set up a petition on Tony Blair's Downing Street website. Just two weeks later it's become one of the biggest online polls with almost a quarter of a million people signing up. You can see what he had to say to BBC transport correspondent Peter Plisner in this video from Midlands Today. The signatures are coming in thick and fast. Peter Roberts wanted to have his say about plans for pay-as-they-drive motoring. And the best way to get his message across was to use the Prime Minister's website and start a e-petition. But Peter had no idea it would be so successful. And if you fancy starting your own petition it's really easy. Just go to the Downing Street website, just click on Petition the PM and then fill your details. But it might be a thankless task. When we asked about Peter's petition a spokesman for the Prime Minister said ... "The consequences of doing nothing would lead to an increase in congestion of 25%, in less than a decade. We were working with 10 local areas as they developed proposals for local road pricing pilot schemes" And one of those areas is congested Shrewsbury, but even here officials want major transport improvements, before road pricing comes in. | 
