London Congestion Charge

[lankeela]

Can someone explain to me how this works - I have to drive into central London on Thursday night (can arrive after 10.00) and collect a dog Friday morning from WC1 and then drive back to Norfolk. I drive a Citroen Berlingo van. How much do I have to pay and how do I pay?

[mushroom25]

this explains what to pay, and how:-
https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/pay-to-drive-in-london

note you need to check if your vehicle is exempt from the ULEZ charge, otherwise you have to pay that in addition to the congestion charge. check your vehicle here.
https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/check-your-vehicle/

[lankeela]

So provided I am already in central London on the morning of Friday and then leave I would only have to pay one lot of £15. So if I went in before 10pm Thursday I would have to pay it twice or does that count as one journey in and then out on the Friday if that makes sense?

[david small]

It’s a massive rip off under the guise of saving the planet. You have my sympathies having to enter robbery central. Count your teeth after leaving.

[Atheist]

If motorists think they can cause unhealthy and costly air pollution without coughing up (sic), then they are a pretty dim and selfish lot.

[lankeela]

I merely want to know how much I have to pay and for which part of my journey - I am not trying to avoid paying it just avoiding falling foul of not paying it on time or the correct amount. This site used to be so helpful, now its just a platform for the usual suspects to spout their nasty ignorant opinions no matter what the subject. I am only surprised Gulliver hasn't been on to blame Boris.

[mushroom25]

if you arrive before 22h00 you pay for that day; if you leave after 07h00 then you'll pay for that day too. if you cop for the ULEZ that operates 24/24 and you'll end up paying for 2 days.

[Canary42]

///to spout their nasty ignorant opinions no matter what the subject. I am only surprised Gulliver hasn't been on to blame Boris.///

What irony.

[mushroom25]

// What irony. //

???

the congestion charge was introduced by Ken Livingstone, as authorised by the then labour government's 1999 Greater London Authority act. nowt to do with Boris.

[naomi24]

Why is it irony, Canary?

[jno]

under the guise of saving the planet

the congestion is to London's streets, not the lungs of pedestrians. That's why Ken introduced it - having promised before the election that he would - and it worked for some years until Thames Water slowed it down again with a rolling programme of doing the stuff they hadn't bothered doing for the previous 150 years.

[gingejbee]

^Thames Water...150 years?? It was founded in 1989.

[jno]

as mushroom says - if you can delay your arrival in the zone till after 10pm, you wont have to pay that day. But you'll have to leave before 7am to avoid paying for the second day too.

https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/congestion-charge

Note that the ULEZ area is much larger - basically everything inside the north and south circulars; the congestion zone is just central London. You can check here whether you have to pay

https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/ultra-low-emission-zone/ulez-expansion

[jno]

ginge, yeah, but it traces its ancestry fairly directly back to the 1600s. I forget who owns it now, Kuwait or something?

[gingejbee]

C'mon jno...you clearly blamed Thames Water (the company) for not doing things it couldn't possibly have done - because it didn't exist.
Blame lots of its forerunners in London's water supply service, if you must...but Thames Water is not to blame.

[jno]

fair enough, I meant things that nobody had bothered doing; I have nothing against TW in particular (though they do seem to be constantly using my money to pay fines).

[lankeela]

Thanks for answers but situation now resolved as courier picking dog up! Cost is not more than the accommodation/diesel/congestion charge so worth it to not have to grapple with the traffic.