London toll.htm

Tuesday, 26 February, 2002, 14:50 GMT
Motorists to pay London toll

Ken Livingstone hopes charges will reduce traffic by 15% Motorists driving into the centre of London will have to pay a £5 toll, the city's mayor has announced. Ken Livingstone said he would push ahead with his plans in a move which he believes will drastically reduce the amount of traffic on London streets. Drivers entering the toll zone, which covers an area eight miles wide in the centre of London, will have to pay a daily fee between 7am and 6.30pm on weekdays, or face an £80 fine. But Conservatives have called on the government to block the policy, which takes effect on 17 February 2003. Congestion charges explained Click here to see proposed charging zones Mr Livingstone said: "For the first time there will be a serious attempt to tackle the chronic traffic congestion in central London. "If we get, as we anticipate, a reduction in congestion of up to 15%... this will be the first time we have started to see congestion come down and an easier ability to get around on our streets." The mayor's announcement follows news of other long-term plans to tax motorists around the UK according to the distance they drive. Under those charges motorists could have to pay up to 45p a mile to use the busiest routes.

Introducing the tolls in London was a key element of Mr Livingstone's mayoral election campaign.	"Every penny will be used to improve transport for London"
	Ken Livingstone

A cordon will be set up around central London with around 230 video cameras capable of reading car number plates. These will be checked against a central database to see if the £5 daily fee has been paid. Mr Livingstone hopes the scheme will raise £150m a year which will be used to help raise money to improve public transport. "We now go into a long period of debate with the public to see how best to spend the money raised," he said.

London's congestion charge

"Every penny will be used to improve transport for London. Transport Commissioner Bob Kiley welcomed the scheme. "London needs action to tackle congestion now," he said. "It's time to get London moving and reduce the traffic jams that are crippling our capital." But the chairman of the London policy unit of the Federation of Small Businesses, Richard Morse, said it would be an "annual £1,200 'poll tax'" on London's businesses.

▷Area: Eight sq mile stretch of central London ▷£5 daily charge from 7am-6.30pm ▷130 cameras scan number plates ▷£80 fine ▷Vehicles can be registered on internet ▷90% discount for people living in charging zone ▷100% discount for disabled and essential services ▷Start date: 17 Feb 2003

"It makes no allowance for essential deliveries to businesses and will particularly hit smaller firms since the charge will be proportionately higher for them," he said. Angie Bray, the Greater London Assembly's Conservative transport spokesman, said the scheme was flawed, with the amount of revenue expected falling all the time, and "the most ill-suited roads selected as boundaries".

Paul Watters, of the Automobile Association, claimed the charge would be an extra tax on motorists, saying: "Something has to be done and that is improving the whole transport system, it doesn't have to be paid out of car tax."

"All this scheme will do is force motorists on to roads previously unaffected by congestion" Angie Bray GLA's Conservative transport spokesman

Derek Turner, of Transport for London, said congestion was costing £2m a year and denied the charge would equate to any kind of tax. "We have got to do something to stop congestion in London and London grinding to a halt," he said. "It's trying to discourage people from using their cars."