London Congestion Charges

daveski · 26 Apr 2006 at 09:27

Scottland said:
The hotel we're staying at is charging something like £10 for 24hours

Id pay that! Its £40 for the pair of us to go on the train. Petrol should be around £15-20 from here so if I can park for £10 ill drive.

Scottland · 26 Apr 2006 at 09:31

daveski said:
Id pay that! Its £40 for the pair of us to go on the train. Petrol should be around £15-20 from here so if I can park for £10 ill drive.

It was nearly £70 each for us to go by train, disgraceful :rolleyes:

It'll cost £35-£40 max in diesel to get down there.

I dont mind paying £10 to park, but it's likely to cost us £30 depending what time we leave on Sunday

I might park on the Friday night, and look for some street parking for the remainder.

Freefaller · 26 Apr 2006 at 10:02

They want you to use public transport and then it costs you an arm and a leg - great. It's more ecconomically viable to use your car as you pay so much for keeping your car on the road that I don't see the point in spending the same again just for the "privilege" of using a train/bus...

Nozzer · 26 Apr 2006 at 10:50

I'm not sure... I drove in to London in the evening for the first time in ages the other night. It cost me my petrol (let's say £5 for argument's sake), parking £6.90 for an hour and a half and my ability to have more than one drink.

Had I got the train, I'd have paid the same amount, give or take a few pence, for an all zone travel card and been able to drink. OK, so you don't have the freedom of having the car, but that's about the only disadvantage.

Ransom · 26 Apr 2006 at 12:18

that is a **** load for parking

is all london that bad?

up here its like 70pence for 1hour / £1.40 for 2hours etc

No swearing. Read the FAQs. FF.

Nozzer · 26 Apr 2006 at 12:21

Ok, that was in the most expensive area of London, but I'd have been going there by train anyway.

TomO · 26 Apr 2006 at 20:35

Ransom said:
that is a **** load for parking

is all london that bad?

up here its like 70pence for 1hour / £1.40 for 2hours etc

No swearing. Read the FAQs. FF.

last time i parked it was 20p for 4 mins. so thats £3 per hour. in soho its more like £6 - £8 an hour. i parked to go out for dinner and it was about £20

Scottland · 1 May 2006 at 11:20

Well I made it almost all the way until I made a wrong turn. Got 100yards down the road, did a 3pointer and turned back.

I thought it might have been in the congestion zone, so I called up and asked if they could tell me:

Me: Hi, I'm visiting here and I think I may have taken a wrong turn into a congestion charging zone, could you check if I did please?

Her: Sure I'll just get up a map, do you know what road it was?

Me: Sorry no, I've not visited before and I was busy trying to get back en route to notice the street name.

Her: Oh, well you'll have to pay then sir to avoid a fine (if you don't pay)

Me: Hmmm, well can't you check?

Her: No sir, we don't download the camera footage until midnight

Me: Thats ok, I'll call back tomorrow and you can tell me then, right?

Her: There will be a £100 fine if you don't pay though

Me: I don't know if I need to pay though, was I in a congestion charging zone?

Her: Sorry sir, I can't check.

Me: Right ok, so if I pay now I wont get fined, but if I wasn't in a zone, can I get a refund?

Her: It's non refundable

Is it me, or does that sound silly to you?

Chronos-X · 1 May 2006 at 11:32

Yep

Thats exactly how they are. If it doesn't see you you have to pay anyway, if you're not sure if you went in you have to pay, they can't tell you if you went in but of course they can if they charge you for it FFS.

Has anyone got any ingenious ways of getting round the charge, legally? One is having the car registered as inside the zone (90% discount) - another I've heard of is registering as a private ambulance (having to carry some first aid kit)?

Scottland · 1 May 2006 at 11:46

I'm half tempted to complain, but I know exactly the kind of response I'll receive: "#### off, don't care." :rolleyes:

Freefaller · 1 May 2006 at 13:07

Scottland said:
Well I made it almost all the way until I made a wrong turn. Got 100yards down the road, did a 3pointer and turned back.

I thought it might have been in the congestion zone, so I called up and asked if they could tell me:

Is it me, or does that sound silly to you?

Welcome to the joke that is TFL :rolleyes:

I really do despise them.

Shootist · 1 May 2006 at 13:55

Just phone Johnny Two Jags (or should that be Johnny Two Sh@gs.. :rolleyes:

) and get him to pick you up... I'm sure he's not doing anything from next week after the Cabinet "re-shuffle". One way to avoid resigning anyhow.