Up to 19,000 motorists who’ve bought eco cars to avoid having to pay the London Congestion Charge could soon be forced to stump up the daily fee.
At present, any car emitting less than 100g/km is exempt from the £10 charge. But under new Transport for London (TfL) proposals, the threshold would be lowered to 75g/km.
The changes, planned for the spring, would also hike the fine for non-payment by £10 to £130.
Owners of cars that no longer qualify for exemption wouldn’t have to start paying the charge until 2015. But only nine models currently on sale in the UK would be exempt – including six all-electric cars. Not one purely petrol or diesel model would qualify.
TfL claims the charge reduced congestion in central London by around 25 per cent when it was introduced in 2003, and this has remained stable since then. It adds that traffic delays in central London fell by 3.1 per cent and by 4.2 per cent in inner London between 2007 and 2011.
We asked TfL whether the C-charge is merely a toll, and a spokesman said: “A toll taxes motorists to pay for the cost of building and maintaining the road. But the charge’s objective is to reduce congestion.”
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Swines they keep moving the goalposts as the revenue drops, buying an electric car seems the only future proof way of remaining congestion charge free if you want to keep your car long term in London without getting hit with these charges every day (Well for a while maybe).
"But the charge’s objective is to reduce congestion.”
So the charge is designed to prevent people using the roads they pay for through taxation. Nice.
This is robbery - but it's what we expect from government as a whole. I don't agree with the congestion TAX - but London is overheated and overcrowded anyway. Perhaps more Londoners should find ways to live and work elsewhere in the country?
What a complete joke. For all those people that bought the Prius, clearly not for it's looks but decent fuel consumption etc are now going to be well and truly gutted. Government is a joke.
I told you all this years ago. Stick with you big sedans and 4x4s - enjoy life and stop trying to conform to the govt's regulations. Before you know it they'll change shape, move the goal posts, and bring up higher and higher hurdles - you've all bought prius, and honda insights etc, and now you're all stumped.
Im telling you honestly, even if you buy electric cars, in 10yrs time they'll find a reason why its not exempt - maybe it charges for too long or something silly.
Stick with your comfortable 'polluting' sedan.