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Congestion charge red ken's little earner!!

Posted by Colin on March 27, 2007, 9:59 pm

Just received my PCN (penalty charge notice)from London congestion charging zone,usual excuse,i was 150 miles from home in a big city and didn't realise it but i must have entered the "Zone"and ouch do i know about it!!£100 fine reduced to £50 if paid within 14 days of the "offence".If not paid or challenged by then it goes up to to £100,if not settled after 28 days then another warrant is issued for an additional £150.If this isn't sorted soon after proceedings are commenced for recovery of the whole lot plus costs etc. Bailiffs at the door etc etc.
How on earth did he(Ken Livingstone or is it Dick Turpin!!) get away with this.Hitler would have been proud of him.After googling the congestion charge on the net there are real horror stories out there,of aggressive bailiffs,charges upon charges and hundreds of pounds in fines.And the company that administers the charge sound more like the Gestapo than the Gestapo.
I have thought of all sorts of excuses for not paying but there are only a few that will wash,like stolen vehicle,number plate theft,terminal illness etc.
Has anyone else been in the "Zone"? and been fined or got out of jail free,If so how did you manage to get out of it!!

Cheers

Colin

Re: Congestion charge red ken's little earner!!

Posted by Mark Lamont on March 27, 2007, 10:49 pm, in reply to "Congestion charge red ken's little earner!!"

I live and work about 25 miles away from the charging zone, but have not yet entered, I(and millions of others) object to it, after all I pay my road tax. So I suppose it works, as my car is now never causing the congestion.
I think the scheme was making a loss at £5 per day(not sure if this is true now it has increased) and any profit comes from people such as yourself

Re: Congestion charge red ken's little earner!!

Posted by steve middleton on March 28, 2007, 9:36 am, in reply to "Congestion charge red ken's little earner!!"

Colin,
i enter the congestion charge zone 2 or 3 times a week, just need to remember to pay when i get home,
when you went to london you did'nt notice the 6 foot high letter C in red in the middle of the road or the numerous signs ?? and you can pay the next day aswell

steve

ps: soz to sound like i'm on a soap box but if theres any chance it makes driving in town easier i'm all 4 it,
awaiting a barage of abuse now

Re: Congestion charge red ken's little earner!!

Posted by Russell Davey on March 28, 2007, 11:48 am, in reply to "Congestion charge red ken's little earner!!"

Count yourself lucky you don`t do vehicle rental like us.

If the hirer gets caught in the zone, its us who have to pay the fine and then reclaim it back off the hirer.

By the time you get the penalty notice, the hirer has finished with the car and we no longer have the card details from which to debit.

Re: Congestion charge red ken's little earner!!

Posted by Shaun Dale on March 28, 2007, 9:18 pm, in reply to "Congestion charge red ken's little earner!!"

With schemes like this I wonder how much money is actually profit for the Council and how much is spent in administering the scheme. I suspect it's just another way of reducing the level of unemployment. Unfortunately it only employs halfwit pen pushers and not real workers, oops sorry, forget I said that!

Shaun

Re: Congestion charge red ken's little earner!!

Posted by Colin on March 28, 2007, 10:28 pm, in reply to "Re: Congestion charge red ken's little earner!!"

I wondered what that big Red letter C was for!!Thought it was some sort of posh area to live in.Up north the only writing in the roadway is done by bored teenager with spray can's

cheers

Colin

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