Autocar - First for car news and reviews

If you’ve bought a car emitting less than 120g/km of carbon dioxide recently in the hope that you’ll be able to drive into central London without paying the Congestion Charge, you may be in for an unwelcome surprise in the New Year.
According to reports in the national press today, Transport for London’s plan to reform the workings of the Congestion Charge, which were announced last November, may yet be scrapped or drastically altered.
TfL’s plan was to increase the £8-a-day Congestion Cha...Read the full article

Why am I not surprised to hear that once again Red Ken has lied in a thinly veiled attempt to cover up yet another way to steal off the motorist. Is it any wonder people like Boris Johnson is being taken so seriously when all we have to compare to is this.  

It's been crystal clear from the start that the whole scheme was never designed to cut congestion.  Their whole budget was built around the same volume of traffic entering the zone and paying the £5.  When it didn't happen they went back on their word and upped the charge. And now because of continuing bad management they still can't balance to books so they're finding other ways to squeeze even more money out of us to pay for their pointless, ill-conceived, poorly run scheme.

 

why do people even need to drive into central london during the weekdays?

excluding the commercial vehicles making deliveries, who/ why are these other people driving about?

Kee Law:

why do people even need to drive into central london during the weekdays?

excluding the commercial vehicles making deliveries, who/ why are these other people driving about?

Well thats just it isnt it.  In theory, the whole reason for it is to stop cars going into the city centre.  Even it only cuts down a few hundred cars then to a degree it works.  But why not have huge, free and secure car parks on the outskirts of london where people can hop a bus/tube/train the rest of the way?  Instead of pay and display at all the train stations.

Exactly right Dradus, lets face it if cities like Chester and Manchester can do it why can't London?

Non of this has anything to do with environmental awareness, it's about hitting the easiest target to increase revenue.

As a Chauffeur I have to drive in London, visiting a number of destinations throughout the day, with a car load of Directors and Executives. Even with the charge, it's a cost effective and secure way for them to travel and work.

Those who take their cars to work do so not out of choice, but nessessity. Nobody wants to drive in London, unless they have to, to suggest otherwise is just simply foolish. The demonised cars are crammed into a reducing road space, the rest being for buses, taxis and those lovely cyclists.

I remember sitting in the Costa Coffee shop in New Oxford St with a colleague and counting the number of private cars in the traffic. There were very few and certainly not enough to cause the jam that was clearly happening. They are not the problem they are perceived to be by popularist 'thinkers'.

There were many empty buses queuing all the way down toward Oxford Street from High Holborn, who didn't move the whole time I sat there. The few passenges that sat on the buses, eventually got off. Nothing that is done to relieve congestion will work until it is realised that cars are not the only problem.

Park and ride schemes in London would just transfer the problem as does other schemes of this type. It defeats the object of having private cars, surely?

All that is clear is TfL don't have the answer either and are back pedalling themselves into a corner. Ken Livingstone is irrelevant.

We'll never get free car parks outside of London to park in so we can stand on the tube for an hour.

I would suggest the cost of the land would make this impossible.

Does anyone know what's happening with this now?

All sign of it has dissappeared from the TFL website!!!!

Rosstopher,

Why do you have David Koresh as your avatar? Why is Koresh doing an impression of James Blunt?

We have a right to know.

SP

I just admire anyone who can be a cult leadr/dictator.

Such single minded determination........

 

Oh and I'm the next messiah

And why not?

One can only hope when the feast of wine, loaves and fishes ends, you are not asked to climb a green hill far away with a lump of wood on your back.

I often wonder if there were any loud mouth forty somethings in latter days bars of those days of Jesus who would brag, "Jesus? Son of God?  he used to work with my brother-in-Law back in Nazareth. A Carpenter....he was rubbish, couldn't even do a dovetatil joint.......!!

And how stupid they felt when he was 'taken up'. "Your round I think Obediah!!" the other barflys would chastise the chap.

Lack of faith always has it's toll.

rosstopher:

Oh and I'm the next messiah

"Your death will stand as a landmark in the continuing struggle to liberate the parent land from the hands of the Roman imperialist aggressors, excluding those concerned with drainage, medicine, roads, housing, education, viniculture and any other Romans contributing to the welfare of Jews of both sexes and hermaphrodites. Signed, on behalf of the P. F. J. , etc. " And I'd just like to add, on a personal note, my own admiration, for what you're doing for us, Brian, on what must be, after all, for you a very difficult time.