Hi,

Can someone please tell me how you actually pay for the congestion
charge? I will be visiting London soon and a friend came back from
there and says he got stung with a large fine for not paying the toll
(through his car hire company). He said he never encountered any
toll-booths or e-tag systems. The exchange rate is bad enough without
getting stung with stupid fines. That said, I think it is a great
concept!

Chris

On 15 Mar 2006 01:32:37 -0800, "funkymonkey"
wrote:

Hi,

Can someone please tell me how you actually pay for the congestion
charge?

http://www.cclondon.com/howtopay.shtml

--
James Farrar
. @gmail.com

a friend came back from there and says he got stung with a large
fine for not paying the toll (through his car hire company).

Serves him right for not reading the dozens of warnings (not to mention
ignoring what the car hire company said). Why, as a tourist, did he
even want to drive through central London in the day?

He said he never encountered any toll-booths or e-tag systems.

That's because they are aincent technology that requires unneccersary
manpower. Of course they catch people on false plates, but blocking the
200 entrances to London would be impractical and add to congestion even
more.

He did encounter big warning signs saying "Congestion charge 0700-0630"

The exchange rate is bad enough without getting stung with stupid
fines. That said, I think it is a great concept!

The exchange rate is bad for americans because the dollar is crumbling
faster than a really crumbly cheesecake. No doubt you'll be invading
Iran soon enough as they want to sell oil in euros, resulting in even
more dollar devaluation.

In message .com,
funkymonkey writes

Can someone please tell me how you actually pay for the congestion
charge? I will be visiting London soon and a friend came back from
there and says he got stung with a large fine for not paying the toll
(through his car hire company). He said he never encountered any
toll-booths or e-tag systems.

You have to pay either in advance or on the day that you travel (up to
midnight - but if you pay after 10pm there is a £2 surcharge). If you
are driving within the zone for several days, you will need to pay for
each day that the car is within the zone (even if just parked) -
although note that it operates only between 7.00a.m. and 6.30p.m.,
Monday to Friday (and not on public holidays).

You can pay on the WWW (http://www.cclondon.com/), by phone, at any of
the shops, car-parks or petrol stations that display the Congestion
Charge Paypoint sign, or in various other ways listed at the above site.

There are no toll booths, tickets or tags - the number plates of all
cars in the congestion zone are photographed automatically and then
compared at the end of the day with the list of those who've paid.

Driving and parking in central London is neither cheap nor easy (even
for those like me who have lived here for more than 50 years). Given
that the capital has excellent public transport, it is well worth
considering whether you really need a car for days spent in the central
area.
--
Paul Terry

In message .com, Paul
Weaver writes

The exchange rate is bad for americans because the dollar is crumbling
faster than a really crumbly cheesecake. No doubt you'll be invading
Iran soon enough as they want to sell oil in euros, resulting in even
more dollar devaluation.

Why do you think someone with an Australian email address is American?
--
Paul Terry

Paul Terry wrote:

if you pay after 10pm there is a £2 surcharge

Do you know why this was brought in? it seems a bit spiteful to me.

m.

funkymonkey ) gurgled happily, sounding much
like they were saying :

Can someone please tell me how you actually pay for the congestion
charge? I will be visiting London soon and a friend came back from
there and says he got stung with a large fine for not paying the toll
(through his car hire company).

Some of which would be from TfL, the rest from the car hire company.

He said he never encountered any toll-booths or e-tag systems.

No, but he would have encountered umpteen shops and machines which would
allow him to pay.

Pay before 10pm and it's £8.
Pay between 10pm and midnight, and it's £10.
Miss that, and you're toast. Yes, it is a *******.

The exchange rate is bad enough

Hiho. Perhaps that's due to the Aussie Peso being A Bit ****?

In message , marcb
writes

Paul Terry wrote:

if you pay after 10pm there is a £2 surcharge

Do you know why this was brought in? it seems a bit spiteful to me.

"To discourage late payment". In fact, I think the surcharge is less
than it was - when the CC charge was £5 the surcharge was a further £5
for payment after 10pm.

--
Paul Terry

Paul Terry wrote:
Why do you think someone with an Australian email address is American?

'Cause I didn't look at the email address, and when someone neglects to
put their country of origin in, it usually means they are american.

"Paul Weaver" wrote in message
ups.com...
Paul Terry wrote:
Why do you think someone with an Australian email address is American?

'Cause I didn't look at the email address, and when someone neglects to
put their country of origin in, it usually means they are american.


good point :-P