by Jackie Money

Created on: December 04, 2008   Last Updated: January 15, 2009

As congestion soared in London so did the blood pressure of public transport providers stuck in the midst of the 'peak time' traffic travelling in or out of London and were on strict timetables. Equally, the patience of employers was wearing thin as they were seeing half empty offices come 9.00 on weekday mornings. London was suffering the worst traffic congestion in the UK and ranked as one of the worst congested cities in Europe. Statistics showed that, back in 2000, those commuters who travelled into London to work by car spent half of their travelling time practically at a standstill in queues which equated to 25 motorway (freeway) lanes of traffic. This led to employers in London losing revenue of up to 4 million each week in lost working time.

In 2002, having liaised with local residents and businesses, transport providers and others affected by any prospective congestion zone charges, the finishing touches were put to the scheme and it was finally introduced to a smaller section of central London and later, in 2007 the zone was extended further west.

The system doesn't require any 'tickets' to be bought but works via a network of cameras which monitor roadways into and out of the City and also monitor journeys within the zone. The cameras are able to provide images of the vehicles and the number plates, so in effect the make of your car and it's registration number can be checked against a database to ensure that the charge has been paid. A final check is made at midnight and the system highlights those vehicles that should have paid the congestion charge that day but haven't. Those who haven't paid are then checked manually and penalty notices are sent out to the registered vehicle keeper.

Congestion is still high in Central London but since the scheme came into force it's been shown that 70,000 fewer cars are now entering the original zone, London Transport have seen a 6% increase in passengers, cyclists have increased by 12% and 137 million was raised in 2007-2008 to invest back into public transport.

As at 2008 the zone covers Bayswater, Notting Hill, North and South Kensington, Knightsbridge, Chelsea, Brompton, Belgravia, Pimlico, Victoria, St. James's, Waterloo, Borough, City of London, Clerkenwell, Holborn, Finsbury, Bloomsbury, Soho, Mayfair, and parts of Marylebone.

Signs bearing the letter 'C' in a red circle indicate that you are entering the zone so there's no excuse for non payment! The charge applies between 7am and 6pm Monday to Friday but

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