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Right now, hybrids like the Prius, as well as super-efficient diesels, are exempt from London’s pricy Congestion Charge, but TfL’s latest proposals to rake in another £2 million a year aim to change that. Got a tiny diesel or a hybrid? You’ll have to pay a tenner a day just to drive in London, and that plain stinks of yet more government money grubbing.
When the Congestion Charge was first introduced, along with the Low Emission Zone introduced later covering a large swath of London, it was billed as cutting congestion in the city and potentially reducing the pollution in the air we breathe on a daily basis. It was used as an incentive to steer people away from horrendous Chelsea tractors, and towards fuel-efficient cars like the Toyota Prius. Later, when super-efficient low carbon diesels became popular, they got a good kick from Charge-avoidance too. It was good — great for the environment and the advancement of eco-tech alike.
But cynics assumed the real reason for TfL’s stinking Congestion Charge was to rape motorists ever more of their hard earned cash. These proposals go ahead and confirm what we they, and increasingly me, all thought. TfL’s really only in it for the damn money.
It may not seem like a big deal to those who don’t live in London, but hear this. London’s being used as a guinea pig here — if it works in London, which TfL obviously thinks it does, other cities will follow suit, and some already have. Durham’s apparently got one, and Manchester tried to implement one too. Do you fancy being charged £10 a day just to drive in your city, and hell, if you happen to live in the zone, you even have to pay if you don’t move your damn car.
The only cars that are likely to be exempt from the Congestion Charge going forward are electric vehicles, which is about the only ray of sunshine in this dark cloud of Whitehall stealth taxation. Motoring groups are, of course, absolutely incensed, and I have to say, I am too. I can’t say I’m particularly enamoured with hybrids — a needless evolutionary stop-gap in the procession to electric or fuel-cell cars — but by cutting their subsidy, TfL’s killed one of the biggest reasons to buy a more fuel-efficient vehicle for travel in the city. If you can’t skip the charge, hell, you might as well plunk for a Range Rover, if you can afford one that is. [Telegraph]
Image credit: Congestion Charge from Shutterstock
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Thankfully, I moved up North East
You Sir, have exemplary taste!
As does anyone who moves up North!
Good job living in London some of us have no need for a car! Doesn’t affect me in the slightest!
You’re displeased aren’t you Sam?
Can you tell? At least a mildly I’d say. I voted for Boris when Red Ken tried to extend the damn thing out West.
My mate did the research into extending it West, it will never work so long as the CC gives out discounted passes to people living within the area, moving it west meant they would bring X amount of the London population within the zone and they would end up losing money and increasing congestion. Cant say im fussed, i drive in London and manage to avoid it most of the time, and the areas i cant i cycle about.. if i had my way Zone1 would be pedestrian only with a whole 1 way system for Black cabs.
Isn’t its aims to reduce traffic in the central london area? hence ‘congestion charge’ not ‘pollution charge’?
They try to coincide the whole reduced congestion reduced pollution scheme but it’s not always synonymous.
I do believe the aim is to grab more money from those that use their car in the city centre. Any reduction in congestion or pollution is just a bonus.
I don’t drive to work as the charge and increasing levels of traffic have made that perpetually impossible. But I do feel for all drivers.
Maybe it is time to implement what LA has, a car share system? Their level of traffic makes London look half empty!
Nah, what we need now is Teleporters. *crosses fingers* Come on Scientists.
I am not sure if I got your message. Are you pro or against congestion charge?
That being said, there is no need for a car in London, the congestion charge should be £100 per day. Even the streets are not designed for it.
I would also introduce a no truck or delivery during business hours, only couriers, post office, tnt, fedex and the likes would be allowed between 7 and 19:00
Given how easy it is to have your shopping delivered, and have your stuff sent to the amazon pick up points and things like zip car, I haven’t had any desire to have a car in london. Even moving was a blast with some chap charging just £60 for him and his son to shift stuff across london for me.
Get cars off the road and it makes for better cycling. Or go carts. Or segways. Or Landkitingsurfythinging (whatever it’s called)
It’s called kiteboarding and getting a 5 metre power kite this summer too
If only! Unfortunately ridiculous laws outlaw such transportation modes. Segways should definitely be made legal here!
Also school kids should have their free bus passes taken away and be forced to walk. So many of them hop on a bus for one or two stops. Pointless!
Great idea, that will force tons of people on to the tube which is always so empty in the morning… And so cheap…
The problem is that EVERYTHING is going up. Give up your car and you are at the mercy of the trains. Try move closer to your job and house prices go up.
That is a problem that needs to be addressed regardless of cars going around or not.
i’m moving into the congestion zone in a couple of weeks and will need a car for my commute out of the city – train will take too long
As a resident you get 90% off so it’ll be £1 a day
Can I ask why you’re moving into the centre of London only to work outside it? That’s probably the most expensive option I can imagine.
I’ll be house sitting for 6 – 12 months for a family member who doesn’t want the property vacant.
And as a consultant I have to work all over the place – it just happens that the office is outside of London as its close to Heathrow and motorway connections
Are you sure about that – I thought it had been changed a few months back.
Edit: Nope – your right, it is still 90%. But you have to pay full price until they have processed your application.
Any idea how long it takes to process?
i just hope this isnt implemented elsewhere.
maybe they should spend the money on improving roads… things like single carriageway ringroads should see the planners executed. it takes a marginal amount to make them duals and then when you do need to dual it, the costs are massive, as is the inconvenience.
This doesn’t really make sense. You might have a point if the charge was being extended to fully electric vehicles, but as it’s only to ‘hybrids and tiny diesels’ – which still do pollute – it’s not as clear cut as you make out. And they definitely contribute to congestion as much as any other car.
so why do explain to me the beloved road tax that is based on the same principle… Smaller engine with lowe CO2 less/none you pay.
Is that going toward the environment?? I dont think so, tiny shithole like UK is not making in a month what USA or China does in a half a day. I dont understand that explenation
Is it going towards roads improvement?? really? Every time I drive on motorways or in towns I can see road WORKS – but, the fuck where are the workers? I live in Derby, at the moment 2 main roads are “coned up” so heavily causing usual congestion to finish at 8-9PM instead of 6PM. Most of the time there is nothing done.
Anything related to environment in UK is just pure bullshit. We pay more for petrol (and especially diesel – UK is one 2nd most expensive, and in top 5 countries in EU with diesel more expensive than pertol!!!)
We are being robbed in a daylight
its just a tax. simple as that. there will come a point where people just say ‘ah fuck it, its not worth working or going anywhere’
The thing has been flawed from the get go.
Why?
1) You put a perimeter, and most people will just skirt around it causing the massive traffic jams just outside of the zone.
2) When the CC was first introduced, there were only a handful of cars that were exempt but over the years, that list has grown and grown, to the extent that you really don’t need to try very hard not to buy a electric car/hybrid to drive though the CC without paying. So, the traffic has been steadily growing again. I worked in Soho for about 7 years and noticed it getting worse.
I thought it was called a ‘congestion charge’. If you introduce it and make thinks exempt then a lot of people will move to the exempt things, then the roads are still congested and the charge isn’t working.
Does London have a congestion problem? Yes. Is the congestion charge a solution to that? Maybe, if people used it as a incentive to think and live respectful of others – are the people in London those respectful people who will take corrective action? No, they are the sense of entitlement people. This is the cost of living a fast life in a major city, and you don’t have to pay that, you can change your lifestyle or move, it ain’t like their are no options on the table.
I think this is the future of most major cities, it costs a lot of money to maintain those cities and the people who use those cities will be charged for it, I don’t see a issue. It is not like they are taking money off people without purpose, they can offer a better transportation service for the money they fleece from idiots.
I don’t know what these Londoners want? Should we tax the rest of the country to pay for your disregard to transportation costs and charges?
6 years a go all day zone 1-4 in Underground was about £4-£5, now its £11!!!
I have not noticed any new trains, it still stinks in most of the stations, I still have to hold my pockets.
Those twats making new rules and increases in prices dont do it for free.
London is a stinky shit pit, it’s expected to stink. Like I said you have a choice. Nobody said the life of a rat was fun.
Just two issues Sam:
1) “Right now, hybrids like the Prius, as well as super-efficient diesels, are exempt from London’s pricy Congestion Charge”.
Right now; any car that emits fewer than 100mg CO2/km is exempt; including petrol cars. I know this because my car emits something like 105mg CO2/km and there are versions of it below the threshold that are CC exempt.
2) “The only cars that are likely to be exempt from the Congestion Charge going forward are electric vehicles.”
As per the above; providing the car emits lower than the new threshold (75mg CO2/km I believe), it will be CC exempt. All TfL are doing is moving the goalposts. There will be hybrids and diesels and full petrols that hit the threshold before long (I believe there are a couple of production cars that do already)
My car emits 212g/km, so I guess I pay…
I thought it was £8 a day (£10 if you paid a day later) or has this changed?
Edit: It is £10, but I only ever pay £9 as I’m registered with the auto pay system.
Its all a money making scheme for getting motorists to pay more and more.. Brent Council has also changed the way they charge for Permit Parking and the cost is based on your Emissions, which makes me laugh as I only use my car at the weekends so what my emissions have to do with my car being parked I don’t know.
I have a Golf Blue motion which means I shouldn’t have to pay for my parking permit because it falls into the lowest emissions band. However because someone at my address there is already another car, I still have to pay the full price for my car permit because you have to pay for each secondary and third cars registered at the address..
Surely if my car falls into the free bracket then it should matter how many cars are registered at my address it should still be free.
My car currently should also be exempt from the Congestion Charge but with the changes TFL wants to make, only cars that emit less than 89g/km or less of CO2 and that meet the Euro 5 standard for air quality qualify for a 100 per cent discount.
All TFL are doing are reducing the emissions band each year so that year on year more cars will have to pay the congestion charge.
But how says motorists should have a free ride? shouldn’t they be made to pay more and more? Why not? I thought this was the modern unspoken contract to deal with them, to make them understand that actions have consequence. I think they are starting to get it.
By making people buy eco-cars they’ve inadvertently created a future black hole in the nations budget as these electric cars etc… obviously use less fuel meaning less tax for the govt. so obviously this new tax is an effort to put an end to that so we can continue being rip-off Britain.
I guess even if you drive a Prius (about as polluting as a normal hatchback anyway) you’re still causing congestion which is slowing the travel of all other more polluting vehicles causing more pollution per mile.
As per a major blog post, Britain is becoming one of the most difficult places to live on Earth. From ex soldiers being used to spy on the public when dropping fag ends (true), speed cameras catching experienced motorists making rare errors on roads they have driven on for decades to incredibly damaging politically correct laws than mean employers HAVE to disclose the ethnicity of their workforce (terrible idea) to food being sold in containers smaller than the past for the same or more money to a totally failed multicultural experiment by the previous government that has alienated communities to dumbed down television and a culture of celebrity and pre-genuine achievement media stardom to for profit law and order (such as this congestion charge police change) and more.
It’s no wonder most of my Australian and Kiwi professional colleagues have left the country.
To enjoy life here, you need to be either stinkingly rich or a criminal.
Britain has only done one thing correct in the last 15 years – invest in Graphene, but is our populace intelligent and liberated enough to harness it?
I reckon walking 15 miles for clean water is a more difficult life than being made to pay a fine for littering or speeding, you can negate such fines by not offending.
If you ask your Australian friends why they have gone it is likely to do with their economy, with easy jobs that pay well – Australia currently ranks as the best country to be born in – if you are a Australian living in the UK then you are here for one of a few reasons, you like to watch good TV, you are Rolf Harris or you just don’t like living in a nation of racists
If you feel you need to be rich or criminal to enjoy life then I guess you are doing it wrong, but then I’m one of those things and loving it.
Tbh Durham’s is hardly a congestion charge. It only covers a tiny bit of the city centre which is almost entirely pedestrianised. I can’t remember what the charge is but that’s because despite living there 16 years I’ve never had cause to drive into the market place or upto the cathedral. Furthermore there is virtually no parking inside the zone so even those who work in the centre don’t need to take their cars there.