h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Last weekend we took ourselves off to london,which turned into a horror weekend!!we had been home two days when we got a bill from london council,as we had driven through the congestion zone without paying to enter it.Instead of the £5 we should have paid,had we been able to find anywhere to pay,or if there had been information posters telling us"PAY HERE"we now have a bill for £40,which increases to £80 if not paid within so many days.Of course we're going to pay it,we were at fault by not paying before entering the zone,but maybe this will help other unknowledgeable,visitors,who have never been to london before!!! Oh,and you can pay at shops that have a pay point sign,or online before you go!!

hi sal
--
sounds like you got a bit more of the meet,with any chance of meeting anybody
--
i suppose its pointless asking if your going to anymore meets
--
one of the ones that went to the meet,was even worse off than you, he/she missed the last train/bus from london to cambridge and had to pay £150 to get home by taxi,its on the meet thread somewhere, jimxx

I had no idea that a 'congestion zone charge' existed. And if it isn't clearly marked then how would people know about it - especially people visiting England from other countries?

How did they know you hadn't paid?

Weird.


az

Ah, but that was self-inflicted, by having had too many
Hi sal, I've never heard about a congestion zone, what is it, and where and why ?

hi b,elana
--
its a zone in the center of london,that you have to pay to use,apparently because it gets congested,someone came up with the noval idea, if you have to pay to enter town center, less people would go in the zone,tipical lol.
--
i read it on the bbc london page a while back.jim
ps, the £150, reference was to lighten the blow that sal had on the lost weekend as far as the meet went,ive know sal for donkeys years,she would have realised the way i added it on

The congestion charge stinks, its well known to be very difficult to pay. Often people pay and then are fined. Even cars in museums which havn't been on the roads for years have been fined!

I speak as someone who lives in South London, outside the zone but I hear the grief it causes and read about it in the local papers.

hi kaz
--
the first and last time i was in london,was in 1966,i was in the army,and had to escort a prisoner to gattwick airport
--
didnt like the hustle and bustle then,so ide be no good living there,you have my sympathy jim
--
ps, i cant drive, never wanted to,shankseys pony
and the bus are my speed,trains as a last resort

hi all.i am SO pleased that i aren't the only one who didn't understand it all!!!Irung this morning to pay the £40,and the lady i spoke to was very nice.I explained to her that we were visiting london for the weekend,and had never been before,and asked where we could pay next time(there will be one when my memory has dulled sufficiently ,i'm sure).I also asked about disabled badges,as it states there are different rules for badge holders,and she said i would get a 100% reduction,so is sending out the appropriate forms.Jim is right az,it is for central london,to lessen the congestion,and there are cameras up taking random pictures in these zones,so we got a letter ,complete with a picture of our car,and number plate,date and time we went into this certain road!!
It was introduced,i believe in 2000,by ken livingstone,the mayor of london.
kaz,i agree ,i think it is appalling,and should be signed a lot more,and bel,i'd only heard of it on the news,and never thought i'd experience it first hand.It didn't help ,that we were in the zone before we'd realised,and the sheer volume of traffic meant we had to carry on straight forward!!

I remember when I was driving my ambulance into Edinburgh one really hot summer day. I was in the bus lane (we are allowed to use them)any way, the bus in front of me must have about 20 years old! and the smoke fumes coming off from it, were so bad I had to close my windows as my patient was coughing

I remember thinking that, that bus must be making more fumes than a thousand cars put together Now where is the sense in that Eh??

Im glad it all worked out for you Smurfles

(I was paying to cross the Forth bridge for ages, before I found out that it was Free for blue badge holders??
Smudger,

Well, call me daft if you want, but I think that the conjestion charge is one of the best things ever to happen to london. The centre of London was becoming a horrible snarling mass of cars, pollution and noise. Now it isn't as bad. Public transport runs smoother, it is a far nicer place to walk, and you can even breathe (of all things). It is about the worst administered toll I have heard of, and they are bad about fining those who have paid allready, so it isn't al good.

hi sal
--
didnt i hear that leeds was thinking of doing the same this year or something
--
i read it somewhere,there,s one thing sal, it would be pointless doing it in bradford,there aint much traffic now, they cant cut through the town hall anymore jimxx

hiya tone,nice to see you again.I don't disagree with you,i can't because i haven't been before,but there should be more pointers as to where to pay.The other thing that made me ,,was when someone told me it didn't apply at weekends!!!!All those people who went to the meet,and the amount of people that were only there for the weekend,surely applying the charge then would have a better impact on the congestion???
Smudger,I suppose it is down to us to find out where we should and shouldn't pay,but it's rare i go very far afield anyway!!
Jim,I haven't heard about leeds,but i haven't been there for years,I haven't been into town for around ten years i don't think,i go to the shopping centres,all nice and flat,and inside...a lot easier!!!1!!And no town centres!!

Hi smurfles.you have my commiserations,but as i havent a car it doesn't affect me i can however point ypou to a website where you can find out more ,if you have to repeat the journey

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/


pde'

Right hand side of page (quick links)

hello there pdante,and thanks!!I hope that we might have to make the journey again,for another meet,but have got the paperwork to send in so that i can register before we go!!!!It's a 100% reduction for blue badge holdrs(disabled)....once you've paid the £10 registration fee!!!Seen as it's free at weekends anyway,and only £5 a day if it's weekdays,i ,i don't know what to do for the best now

Good morning Sal
I really wonder how they dare to put you a fine if it's free on weekends anyway - sounds just like the stubborn and stupid bureaucrats we have to cope with over here
So what will you do now ?

good morning claudia,lovely to hear from you.I can
t decide what to do now,it will cost me £10 to register to use the zone,and that will have to be renewed after a year,or i can wait until we
e decide to go again,and ring the day before and register,and pay the £10 then.It seems a waste to pay if we only go back for the next meet,and if it's a saturday that we go it would be free anyway!!!!!
bye the way,have you changed your mobile number,i tried to ring you when we were in london,and couldn't get through to you!!xxx

Sorry, no I haven't changed it, but only had it on now and then, cause I had no possibility to charge the batteries, and they were already low.
What a pity I missed you, but perhaps we'll meet next year, if we can make it

hi claudia.well they say third time lucky so maybe at the next meet??.It would be nice to see you,and there were a few others that i would have liked to meet too.