£25 congestion charge is it a done deal?

[catfood]

Well I`m thinking of changing my 300e 24v saloon for a nice 420 or 500 sec but I have to drive into London several days a week for work, I carry lots of equipment and so public transport is out.

Is the £25 congestion charge increase for cars over 3 litres pretty certain to go through?

If so I might have to go hunting for a 300 coupe.

 

[kikkthecat]

Pretty much.
All cars that are currently band G for road tax purposes and all cars over 3 litres that were registered before March 2001 will be £25

A nice April 2001 CL600 should suit you sir, £8 a time as it apparently causes less congestion or pollution.

 

[C240Sport97]

the Mayor of London always "consults" but goes and does exactly as he announced anyway ...

waste of money and time really

 

[Silestanix]

True say that.

I'd just get a CL600 to wind up the regulations...

 

[MBManInKen]

FYI, the proposal is for all cars post March 2001 with emission of 226g/km and above to have to pay the tax, not just the band G ones.

I don't know the CL600 emission figures, but I'd think well above that .

 

[hawk20]

Let's be clear about the proposals.

Transport for London website says: -
“CO2 emissions are measured in grams per kilometre (g/km). For the purpose of these proposals we are using the following definitions:
High emission cars emit more than 225g/km. Drivers of these cars would have to pay the higher £25 charge. (Cars first registered with the DVLA before 1 March 2001 would incur the higher £25 charge if their engines are over 3,000cc in size)
Moderate emission cars emit between 121g/km and 225g/km. Drivers of these cars would continue to pay the standard £8 charge, as would drivers of cars produced before 1 March 2001 with an engine size of up to and including 3,000cc
Low emission cars emit 120g/km or less. Drivers of these cars could register for the 100 per cent discount if their car met the Euro 4 standard for air quality
Proposed timetable
4 February 2008 – the 100 per cent discount would be introduced
6 October 2008 – the higher £25 charge would be introduced
By 2010 we would review these charges”
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/projectsandschemes/roadsandpublicspaces/5669.aspx


What is not clear to me is whether London will use the tax band G as the definition of high emissions. And that would mean only cars registered after March 23rd 2006 when band G was introduced. Prior to that the top band was over 185 Grams/Km. If they don't use cars in band G as the definition how will they know the CO2 emissions of the car are over 225Grams/km?

 

[karl.w]

congestion charges is the biggest rip off ever!

what the hell do we pay road tax for then

 

[miro]

Well I`m thinking of changing my 300e 24v saloon for a nice 420 or 500 sec but I have to drive into London several days a week for work, I carry lots of equipment and so public transport is out.

Is the £25 congestion charge increase for cars over 3 litres pretty certain to go through?

Any increase in the cost and decrease in the number of guzzlers waiting at traffic lights is a welcome change.

 

[miro]

congestion charges is the biggest rip off ever!

what the hell do we pay road tax for then

Exclusion zones only work if people are forced to pay for being fuel consumers. How many people would do it voluntarily ? Do you buy carbon credits now ? The government realises quite happily that wallet punishment gets the job done much faster.

As soon as some perk of taxation no longer becomes deductible you can see for yourself how quickly sales collapse. Between the poms and the northern kin I dont think comformity is achieved faster by any other means.

 

[R2e]

Any increase in the cost and decrease in the number of guzzlers waiting at traffic lights is a welcome change.

Miro, I trust next time you thow a prawn on the barbie it will be an electric barbie? All those Oz barbies must be causing one hell of a carbon footprint burning fossil fuels .

To misquote Henry Ford "Man's responsibility for global warming is bunkum"

 

[miro]

Miro, I trust next time you thow a prawn on the barbie it will be an electric barbie? All those Oz barbies must be causing one hell of a carbon footprint burning fossil fuels .

To misquote Henry Ford "Man's responsibility for global warming is bunkum"

I wouldn't be using Australia as a role model. We inherited all your fools for starters.

 

[R2e]

I wouldn't be using Australia as a role model. We inherited all your fools for starters.

Inherited? You must be aboriginal then? If I can be permitted to make the same sorts of assumptions you are making.

The barbie comment was meant as a joke. Maybe I should have put a funny face next to it so you would understand.............oh I did! And regarding your arguments, we are already paying for being fuel consumers, 95p a litre, plus, as Karl W has indicated, road tax according to emissions.

And no, I don't buy carbon credits. Like over 50% of the UK populace, I believe global warming is a natural phenomenon, not something that has been caused by man, or even to which man is a major contributor. It is a convenient peg for politicians to hang taxes on which of course it is politically incorrect to dispute.

 

[Dieselman]

What is not clear to me is whether London will use the tax band G as the definition of high emissions. And that would mean only cars registered after March 23rd 2006 when band G was introduced. Prior to that the top band was over 185 Grams/Km. If they don't use cars in band G as the definition how will they know the CO2 emissions of the car are over 225Grams/km?

Because all manufacturers have been registering the CO2 output of every car made for a number of years.

 

[hawk20]

Because all manufacturers have been registering the CO2 output of every car made for a number of years.

Yes. Thanks. But how will they actually do it, administer it, police it? Band G will show on the tax disc and is easy to police. How will they know the emissions of say an SL500 first registered and placed correctly in band F prior to March 23rd 2006?

 

[Dieselman]

The cameras are ANPR cameras, each car is listed with DVLA.

This all comes off hte back of the Government targets to reduce Co2 by 60% by...2030..iirc.
Expect this sort of scheme to roll out nationally over a period of time.
London is the first because it will have the greatest impact and has the best public transport network.

 

[hawk20]

The cameras are ANPR cameras, each car is listed with DVLA.

This all comes off hte back of the Government targets to reduce Co2 by 60% by...2030..iirc.
Expect this sort of scheme to roll out nationally over a period of time.
London is the first because it will have the greatest impact and has the best public transport network.

Thanks.

I don't think the govt should be blamed for Ken's vendetta against the better off. Gordon Brown very sensibly made the tax increase on VED apply only to cars registered after his budget (after March 23rd 2006) because other big cars had already been built. Fair warning of the £300 charge and that it would rise to £400. But the London charge is massively more and is retrospective and will fall on people who did not have fair warning. And the annual charge of £5,300 is totally disproportionate to the size of the problem.

IMO the govt should choose the taxes for emissions not local councils. Otherwise we shall have a real postcode lottery as to who gets clobbered and who doesn't.

 

[verytalldave]

London is the first because it will have the greatest impact and has the best public transport network.

.........well, god help the rest of the country then...........

 

[BonzoDog]

There are means and ends here, are there not. The end is to cut emisisons but more importantly to reduce congestion in one of the World s most important business centres. The means will almost invariably fall on the biggest polluters. The justification seems to be the politics of envy, a poor and shameful approach but no matter what the justification it will ineveitably almost always fall on the same people and big cars.

 

[Dieselman]

There are means and ends here, are there not. The end is to cut emisisons but more importantly to reduce congestion in one of the World s most important business centres. The means will almost invariably fall on the biggest polluters. The justification seems to be the politics of envy, a poor and shameful approach but no matter what the justification it will ineveitably almost always fall on the same people and big cars.

I believe appears would be a better word to use.

 

[Benzowner]

Just as a matter of interest, how will they deal with Rotary engines, small cc but relatively high emissions I beleive?