London (TFL) congestion charge, watch out

[Jev88]

Just so other people not regular visitors to London don't get caught.........
Followed sat nav out of site near St Pancras station where I had collected medical equipment and taken on to the dreadful Euston road. Missed a turn right and so sat nav sent me next left, right, right to cross Euston road at next available turning. That pushed me 50 yards inside ULEZ / Congestion Charge etc etc etc.... Spotted the signs so a few hours later stopped for a coffee and registered my car on the TFL website. HOWEVER, when also registering FOR THE AUTO PAY section my card was not accepted first go and I didn't notice.....hence £80 fine for late payment as company car registered at other address etc...
Nothing I can do about it but really miffed that the system sends you NO warning you need to pay, NO reminder that you haven't paid. "It is up to the driver to know they have entered a zone and pay that day" is the quote from the help line. ... Even though they already had all my details when registered..

 

[appydaze]

Do holders of Blue Badge have to pay,

 

[Odd-no-more]

Do holders of Blue Badge have to pay,

I think it's only those who get free road tax that are exempt, and if that's you then you have to register it with transport for London

 

[Nigel P]

I think it's only those who get free road tax that are exempt, and if that's you then you have to register it with transport for London

Unfortunately not, we have two vehicles which are zero rated VED and both get stung with £15.00 congestion charge and one of them also the ULEZ charge!

 

[Raul]

Just so other people not regular visitors to London don't get caught.........
Followed sat nav out of site near St Pancras station where I had collected medical equipment and taken on to the dreadful Euston road. Missed a turn right and so sat nav sent me next left, right, right to cross Euston road at next available turning. That pushed me 50 yards inside ULEZ / Congestion Charge etc etc etc.... Spotted the signs so a few hours later stopped for a coffee and registered my car on the TFL website. HOWEVER, when also registering FOR THE AUTO PAY section my card was not accepted first go and I didn't notice.....hence £80 fine for late payment as company car registered at other address etc...
Nothing I can do about it but really miffed that the system sends you NO warning you need to pay, NO reminder that you haven't paid. "It is up to the driver to know they have entered a zone and pay that day" is the quote from the help line. ... Even though they already had all my details when registered..

It’s been like that since Ken Livingstone introduced it. Works for them. I had to track back on sat nav few times to make sure I was or not in it. No notice, only late payment is notified.

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[Odd-no-more]

Unfortunately not, we have two vehicles which are zero rated VED and both get stung with £15.00 congestion charge and one of them also the ULEZ charge!

Sorry I wasn't clear, you need to have a blue badge which includes the road tax being paid, this is for people more severely disabled than just for the blue badge itself

 

[Jev88]

It’s been like that since Ken Livingstone introduced it. Works for them. I had to track back on sat nav few times to make sure I was or not in it. No notice, only late payment is notified.

Clearly geared to catch the unwary. Dart charge reminds you at least ..

 

[Odd-no-more]

My daughter left the congestion charge zone at 7.00 am when that is the time the charge became due, but she was unsure of she left at 6.59 no charge, or 7.00 needing to pay. They wouldn't let her know

 

[Grummyb]

If you don't know if you have been in the charging zone you should probably pop along to specsavers because there are bloody great big letters painted in the road and signs on the the roadside telling you that you are about yo enter the charging zone or that you are on it
But don't worry we all get it wrong I sent a lorry into the low emission zone last week thats not euro 6 and that cost me 300 smackers

 

[Raul]

There are plenty of places on the perimeter where you could get caught out. Of course no excuses, but on a busy day with traffic and work loaded mind, you can forget where you been.

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[Jev88]

And then WON'T let you check if you went in or not, how is this legal?

 

[TinaLes]

If Londoners vote for the new conservative mayor BAILEY Shaun, he reckons he will scarp the congestion charge immediately!, well that's one way of getting assured votes I guess.
His TV party political broadcast, shows him leaving his outer London home area, then driving through 3 congestions zones, to get into the city cost him £33 for a single visit.
Well that's MP expenses going up then, claimed as well for the days they dont come in I guess.

I did wonder how this new candidate would get the lost money back from the congestion charge, plus he promises to lower the increased council tax charges that homeowners have incurred over the last 3 years. answers on a post card for that I guess.
Plus:
Reduce bus & train fairs to make public transport more affordable. Has he told TFL?

With those promises, Maybe he will be the new "Messiah for London"

LES

 

[Electraglide]

When I worked in London we asked that the company registered their vehicles with Tfl .
No chance, so we all pre paid it monthly and claimed it on expenses whether we went into charge zone on not. They would pay the charge but not any fines.. It took six months but they registered all the vehicles.

 

[domf]

I think it's only those who get free road tax that are exempt, and if that's you then you have to register it with transport for London

That is not correct. Any Blue Badge holder is exempt - you have to register and pay £10 the first time but then can register two vehicles which you can change as often as you need.

 

[gus-lopez]

To my knowledge it is the only country where they discriminate in favour of local vehicles which are checked via anpr. everyone else ,even if exempt, has to register . Most countries like France, spain ,germany etc require everyone to register & obtain emission stickers. Far fairer system.

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[Madcaravanner]

en I was Marshaling festivals we had a guy came regularly to events, had only one leg. Who was still a working As an H G V driver. He had a 5th wheel rig too.

Do holders of Blue Badge have to pay,

I think it's only those who get free road tax that are exempt, and if that's you then you have to register it with transport for London

only people who have their Vehicle Excise Tax free due to disability are free there are a list in your blue badge holders book that tells you what you can get and updates are on the .gov website

 

[domf]

only people who have their Vehicle Excise Tax free due to disability are free there are a list in your blue badge holders book that tells you what you can get and updates are on the .gov website

Which is really wrong IMHO. The tax-free is driven by whether you claim Higher Level Mobility - I was entitled to it but didn't claim it as I didn't want to claim the money. So the only way to get some things I did want was to claim benefit I neither wanted or needed.

Crazy system.

 

[Brains]

If Londoners vote for the new conservative mayor BAILEY Shaun, he reckons he will scarp the congestion charge immediately!, well that's one way of getting assured votes I guess.
His TV party political broadcast, shows him leaving his outer London home area, then driving through 3 congestions zones, to get into the city cost him £33 for a single visit.
Well that's MP expenses going up then, claimed as well for the days they dont come in I guess.

I did wonder how this new candidate would get the lost money back from the congestion charge, plus he promises to lower the increased council tax charges that homeowners have incurred over the last 3 years. answers on a post card for that I guess.
Plus:
Reduce bus & train fairs to make public transport more affordable. Has he told TFL?

With those promises, Maybe he will be the new "Messiah for London"

LES

It's Shaun Bailey's boss that is insisting on the ULEZ charge.
Bailey can put what he likes in his manifesto, but scrapping the Congestion charge or the ULEZ has zero chance of happening.

The Conservatives are quite happy for Labours Sadiq Khan to take the blame for for the ULEZ, but as most Londoners are aware his hands (or the hands of any London Mayor) are completely tied on this one.
The rules are coming down from the top, the only person that might be able to tinker at the edges is Michael Gove (Con.)

 

[Wack]

And then WON'T let you check if you went in or not, how is this legal?

When I did some courier work in London for a bit I saw a guy on a motorbike pull into the ring road from within the congestion zone
He had a purpose made piece of black cloth with elasticated sides covering his plate , pulled up at the side of the road, took it off and carried on with his day.

A guy who worked for the same courier company reversed round a corner to turn round and got a fine for entering the CZ

The first time I went to london wasn't long after they'd extended the zone , I was looking for a big C on the road but the extended zone was just signposts , I was 99% sure I'd not been in it but thought I'd ask
They don't want to tell you , they just want you to pay