Taken for a Ride: Taxpayers, Trains and HM Treasury

There are few books that can claim to have changed the transport policy for London and the UK. Don Riley’ s Taken for a Ride is one such book. First published in 2001, a year after the opening of the then controversial Jubilee Line Extension, in London, Riley documented how new transport systems deliver extraordinary profits. As Taken for a Ride explains, taxpayers provide the funds from which private landowners profit. Taken for a Ride has been fully updated with a new introduction by Fred Harrison, one of the world’ s top economists, a postscript by Dave Wetzel, former vice chair of Transport for London, and an in-depth interview with Steve Norris, the transport minister who gained approval for the Jubilee Line Extension. Crossrail data demonstrates that Don Riley was right 20 years ago, and that we, as taxpayers, are being robbed of the gains that come from well-designed transport projects. Riley knew of the extraordinary gains available from good transport projects because he made massive profits on his properties. In this quietly revolutionary book, Riley lays out a case for unleashing an revolution by changing the tax system so that people are rewarded for their efforts

Fred Harrison is Research Director of Land Research Trust, London, and prolific author of economic and political science books. After a career as a Fleet Street investigative journalist, Harrison turned his attention to the failure of economic analysis and public policies in the market economies. Don Riley became one of the most successful property developers in London’ s Southwark Street. By rescuing derelict buildings in the Southwark area south of London Bridge, Don Riley had a 20-year record of valuing sites included in this study.