The London congestion charge: an introduction

The congestion charge scheme was introduced in 2003 by London Mayor Ken Livingstone.

The following explains why the Mayor has decided to introduce congestion charging in central London.

• London suffers the worst traffic congestion in the UK and amongst the worst in Europe.
• Drivers in central London spend 50% of their time in queues.
• Every weekday morning, the equivalent of 25 busy motorway lanes of traffic tries to enter central London.
• It has been estimated that London loses between £2 - 4 million every week in terms of lost time caused by congestion.

So, the tax zone now begins in west London at Shepherd's Bush, bounded to the north by the Harrow Road and in the south by the River Thames. A few 'drive-through' routes have been left tax-free, the main one being from Vauxhall Bridge, up through Grosvenor Place and via Park Lane up Edgware Road.

The charge remains £8 per day - but the operating hours have been shortened by half an hour, running from 7am to 6pm.

How to pay?

Transport for London (TfL) has introduced the Pay-Next-Day scheme which will allow drivers to pay the £8 congestion charge until midnight on the day, or pay £10 until midnight on the following day.

Previously, drivers who passed through the congestion zone had to pay the charge by midnight that day or pay a £100 penalty, reduced to £50 if paid within 14 days.

Pay by phone on 0845 900 1234 or pay by post by clicking here to download the form.

It is also possible to pay at selected petrol stations, shops and car parks. Click here to go through to the official Transport for London congestion charge site and search for where you can pay in person.

How does it work?

Payment of the congestion charge allows you to enter, drive around, and leave the charging zone as many times as you wish that day.

There are no tollbooths or barriers around the congestion charging zone and no physical tickets or passes. Instead, you pay to register your vehicle number plate on a database for your journeys within the charging zone.

Cameras read your registration number as you enter, drive within or leave the congestion charging zone and check it against the database. Once the vehicle number plate has been matched, showing that you have paid or do not have to pay the charge (because your vehicle is exempt or 100% discounted), the photographic image of your vehicle is automatically wiped off the database.

Following a final check at midnight, the computer keeps the registration numbers of vehicles that should have paid but not done so. Transport for London then manually checks each recorded image and issues a Penalty Charge Notice of £100 to the registered keeper or hirer of all those vehicles. As with parking penalties, this is reduced to £50 for prompt payment within 14 days. Failure to pay the penalty charge within 28 days results in the penalty being increased to £150.

Once a penalty has increased to £150, a charge certificate is sent to the registered keeper or hirer of the vehicle advising them of the increase and that action to recover the outstanding penalty will be taken. As with parking penalties, failure to pay the outstanding charge can result in further action, including registration of the debt with the County Court and finally bailiffs being appointed to recover the debt.

Removal and clamping

Vehicles with three or more outstanding congestion charging penalty charges may be clamped or removed by staff operating across Greater London, including outside the charging zone.

The current clamp fee is £65 and the removal fee is £150. Storage in the car pound also costs £25 a day. If a vehicle is clamped or removed, then all of the outstanding penalty charges and the appropriate clamp/removal and storage fees must be paid before the release of the vehicle is authorised.

If the release fee is not paid, then the vehicle may be disposed at auction or by scrapping. The registered keeper will remain liable for all outstanding charges, including a £60 disposal fee.

Exemptions

Not all drivers have to pay the central London congestion charge.

There are a range of exemptions and discounts available to certain categories of drivers and certain categories of vehicles and individuals.

Several of these categories require registration. If you are confident that you are eligible for any of these, please click on the following links to print out a registration form.

Refunds

If you have paid your congestion charge monthly or annually you can apply for a refund for unused days.

Refunds are calculated from the number of whole charging days from and including the refund date, multiplied by the cost for each of these days, minus a £10 administrative charge. The cost per day will be the value of the charge purchased divided by the number of charging days purchased.

The start date of the refund must be a minimum of seven charging days from the date of receipt of your request by Transport for London.

When you request a refund, you must provide Transport for London with either the original payment receipt/receipt number, or an original of your V5 registration document sent to you by the DVLA.

Refund payments will be made using the same method in which you made the payment. You can download a refund request form here.

Examples

If you have an annual charge purchased at £1,696 divided by 252 days = £6.74 per day. If the charge has 10 unexpired days you will receive a refund of £57.40 (i.e. £6.74 x 10 = £67.40 minus £10 administration = £57.40).

If you have 30 unexpired days on a resident's discounted Congestion Charge (at 80p per day), you will receive a refund of £14 (30 days at 80p = £24, less £10 administration = £14 refund).