Ken gets
busted but the Congestion Charge lives
on
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As anyone who has driven into
London in the last few years will know, paying
the Congestion Charge, the first charge of its
kind in a major city, is a far from
straightforward affair. Drivers have to remember
to pay by midnight the same day, either online,
by phone or at a select number of service
stations and newsagents, or risk incurring a
£120 fine. It seems that remembering is not so
easy. Indeed, it seems to many that they system
is designed for people to forget - 5,000 are
fined every single day for not paying the
charge, generating some £100 million for
Transport for London last year (more than a
third of their entire revenue).
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Without the fines, the Congestion
Charge would be operating at a loss. Small
businesses are particularly hard hit, with
managers struggling to keep track of where their
drivers have been.
But
surely now, with the Tory Boris Johnson as mayor,
it's all about to change? Well actually, no.
Despite years of the Conservatives vowing they
would scrap the Congestion Charge if they came to
power in London, Johnson will keep the charge,
with some potential minor differences. The most
significant of which is scrapping the introduction
of the £25 charge for high carbon emission
vehicles due to be introduced in October (there is
currently a uniform £8 charge for all vehicles).
Any other proposed changes (such as the scrapping
of the Western Extension) will not be considered
until the contract for handling the zone is handed
over to IBM at the end of 2009. So the London
driver is in as much danger as ever in falling
prey to the fines.
Now there's a money-saving gadget
that will stop unwitting drivers getting fined and
takes away the hassle of actually having to
remember to pay. The KenBuster, a small box about
the size of a mobile phone that plugs into the
cigarette lighter, is a GPS system that triggers
an automatic payment to TfL as appropriate,
confirming its actions with a text and email to
you. The first and only device of its type,
inventor Matthew McCluskey is a London motorist
who had been stung one too many times. There are
two ways to buy it - £49.99 for the unit and £8 a
month on a 12 month contract, or the gadget plus a
lifetime contract with no monthly fees for £200,
available at www.kenbuster.co.uk.
So, now Boris is in charge, will it
be renamed the BorisBuster? "No," says Mr.
McCluskey, "The Congestion Charge was Ken's idea
and will be his legacy. Whether you like it or
not, the Congestion Charge isn't going anywhere,
whoever gets busted."
See what everyone else is saying about the KenBuster >>
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