February 7, 2008

Red Ken Livingstone is looking to overturn a life of cock-ups and embarrassing faux pas’ by more than tripling the congestion charge from £8 to £25 this October. His battle with London traffic is his “Northern Ireland” and if he can solve it he may well win the Nobel prize or something but our feeling is that it will need a better thought out plan than this – primarily focused on getting a working public transport system in place as a viable alternative.

The painful new £25 hit will mean a commuter driving into the zone every working day could be forced to pay up to £125 a week, in addition to the costs of owning the car such as fuel, insurance and depreciation.

Any vehicles that breach the threshold of 225g of CO2 per KM will attract the harsh new charge but is this what we need to get those idiots in the Range Rovers and 4x4 school-run Mums out of their monstrosities and into more environmentally-friendly cars?

I haven’t got much against 4x4s per se, but when driven in central London they make no sense at all. Fine, they make the passengers feel safe, poised high above other traffic, but they are more dangerous for other road users because an impact from a 4x4 into a standard car is likely to cause far more damage and injury than a shunt from another car of the same height.

Certainly, the existing charge has had precious little effect and perhaps by walloping these posh gas-guzzling 4x4s the Mayor might encourage a hollywood-style rush for the Toyota Prius. It’s worth a try.

I’ve long been in favour of penalising drivers of big 4x4s just on the basis that they are so dangerous for other road users and pedestrians, not to mention their own inhabitants because their high centre of gravity makes them more likely to topple over if forced to take evasive action.
However, as ever with Ken’s plans, there’s a flaw, and that’s that you may be driving a perfectly sensible car and still get whacked by the new £25 charge.

The scheme will also see cars made pre 1st March 2001 and have engines above 3 litre in capacity and pick ups with two rows of seats that breach the emissions level of 225g or with engines of more than 3 litre penalised.

Those affected include the Ford Focus S-MAX LX, the Audi A4 3.2 FSI, the BMW X5 and the Vauxhall Zafira VXR.

Meanwhile, some of the smaller vehicles in the 4X4 category escape without the top charge, including the Honda CR-V and the Land Rover Freelander 2.2 litre models, so drivers may find themselves being pelted with cabbages by environmentalists while only paying the £8 fee for entering the cities inner sanctum.

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