Boris, Polluting Drivers Friend?

[JamesP]

Originally Posted by JohnDotCom

There was going to be Free Entry for these type Vehicles that has now been Shelved.

That proves it is a Tax and not a service charge as they make out.

I read this article below couple of weeks ago....which I thought quite amusing especially the Livingstone quote.

U.S. Diplomats Owe London $4.7 Million in Fines (Update2)

By Kitty Donaldson

June 26 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. diplomats in London owe 2.35 million pounds ($4.67 million) in unpaid fines for refusing to pay the city's traffic congestion charge, U.K. Foreign Secretary David Miliband said.

The British capital levies an 8-pound daily charge on drivers entering the city center to reduce traffic and generate cash for public transport. The U.S. says the charge is a tax and that foreign service officers are exempt by diplomatic agreement.

In 2006, the then mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, called Robert Holmes Tuttle, the U.S. ambassador to the U.K., ``a chiseling little crook'' for failing to pay the embassy's bill. Livingstone consulted lawyers, who concluded a lawsuit against the embassy in the U.S. or Britain wouldn't succeed. Britain views the congestion charge as a service fee rather than a tax.

``The U.S. embassy, acting on instruction from Washington, does not pay the congestion charge because we, like other foreign missions, see it as a tax,'' Matt Goshko, a spokesman for the U.S. embassy in London, said in a telephone interview. ``We don't see it as a toll, but as a tax and as a tax we are exempt from it.''

The U.S. tops the table of unpaid congestion-charge fines owed to the U.K., followed by Japan, which owes 1.33 million pounds and Russia, which owes 1.31 million pounds. In all, 10 foreign missions in London have outstanding congestion-charge debts, according to a table released by the Foreign Office.

`Outrageous'

``We continue to engage embassies to try to get them to pay the charge,'' Transport for London, the agency that runs the city's roads, trains and buses, said in a statement. ``We are in agreement with the U.K. government that this is not a tax.''

``It is outrageous that the U.S. and some other nations are still failing to pay the congestion charge,'' Norman Baker, transport spokesman for the opposition Liberal Democrats, said in an e-mail. ``This is a perfectly proper charge, and the failure to pay such a huge amount is not only extremely discourteous to the people of London and the country as a whole, but is undermining U.K. domestic transport policy.''

In March, the Foreign Office ``wrote to all diplomatic missions and international organizations concerned, giving them the opportunity to either pay their outstanding fines or appeal against them if they considered that the fines had been issued incorrectly,'' Miliband wrote in a statement to Parliament today.

Outstanding Fines

In 2007, there were 6,241 recorded outstanding fines for parking and other minor traffic violations, totaling 656,275 pounds. As a result of the March appeal, the U.K. recouped 27,300 pounds.

[BigRuss]

Originally Posted by Zeb

Why on Earth would anybody voluntarily drive in inner London anyway

Exactly Zeb, I avoid it like the plague, far easier to use the tube.

Russ

[tourerfogey]

Originally Posted by Zeb

True but one suspects that Boris has more friends that drive Porsches than perhaps those who drive eco-bland-green-tree-hugging-snore-mobiles.....


Why on Earth would anybody voluntarily drive in inner London anyway

But Boris has got a Bicycle...

[JohnDotCom]

Well unusually it was in his Manifesto and he has stuck to it
same as Prohibition of drinks on public transport.
Very unusual for any form of Politician.

[Sancho]

Good point JDC that it was in the manifesto and he's sticking to it, which is admirable.

What isn't quite so admirable are the implications:

1. Everyone who bought a Prius or stupid little electric car to get around the charge now has to pay anyway (I quite like that one actually)

2. We have to pay £400k in legal fees to Porsche now

3. He's right that it's supposed to be a congestion charge, but personally I'd rather have less pollution than less congestion.

I would have made it £25 for everyone. Or £100. Or just ban all private cars. There is no need to drive through that part of town.