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Cheats rack up £200m unpaid C-charge fines
Ruth Bloomfield1 Jul 2009
Up to £204million congestion charge fines have gone unpaid since the scheme started six years ago.
Figures from Transport for London show that almost 1.7 million penalties have not been collected since February 2003.
Of these, 941,825 were written off as "aged debt", after transport chiefs failed to track down the driver or decided not to pursue prosecution.
Another 727,989 are still outstanding, with TfL still hunting the transgressors. With a maximum fine of £120, the total value of the 1.7 million penalties could be as much as £204million.
Officials would have written off fines if they decided it was not good value to chase them.
Some penalties have been run up by criminals driving "ghost cars" with cloned or stolen numberplates.
Paul Watters of the AA said: "There seems to be a hard-core of offenders who are adept at cheating the system."
A spokeswoman for the RAC Foundation said: "Those who don't pay are not sharing the true cost of having vehicles in the capital and are reducing the effectiveness of the scheme."
A TfL spokesperson said: “We have robust procedures in place to ensure that, wherever possible, we recover the money owed through fines. We collect payments for nearly three quarters of all Congestion Charging penalties issued.”
Reader views (8)
Please also mention the thousands of contraventions by foreign registered cars and trucks that they do not even try to recover. No wonder on the internet you can buy made to order French or German number plates described as "not authorised for road use"- Jack Spratt, Richmond, Surrey
Agree fully Jack
Even if they get caught the police just give them a warning. I watched a program on TV where a guy was undertaking other drivers at 100mph with Dutch plates on and they gave him a warning. If the police do not take driving crime serious why expect drivers too?
- Gary, Brentwood, 02/07/2009 10:52
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Liberal And Proud, London, UK
My own evidence is taken from TFL's own stats, even though they tried to hide them. When CC was introduced in 2003 there was a massive reduction for the first few weeks. Gradually the levels crept back up until today they now are back to pre-2003 levels. TFL & Ken claimed that there was a need to raise the fee to £8 a day as more cars were entering the zone, even though at the time this wasn't so.
Now motorists are paying for a service for which they receive no benefit. They pay for the privilege of driving into London on uncongested roads. Sitting here in my office all I see is grid lock.
- Adam, Harrow, UK, 02/07/2009 10:47
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It's all about making money out of people.
- Joe, Swanley Kent, 01/07/2009 16:59
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£200 million is a drop in the ocean compared with what our MPs have pilfered from tax payers.
Also - it is alleged that £200 million has "gone missing" from the olympic purse but that the olympic committee are refusing to publish the findings of a team of forensic accountants from KPMG sent in to investigate. If there have been irregularities in their accounting procedures I demand to know as it is my tax that is being used to fund this 2012 debacle.
- R.F., Yorks, UK, 01/07/2009 16:03
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Please also mention the thousands of contraventions by foreign registered cars and trucks that they do not even try to recover. No wonder on the internet you can buy made to order French or German number plates described as "not authorised for road use"!
- Jack Spratt, Richmond, Surrey, 01/07/2009 13:24
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Adam, Harrow - It's spurious comments like yours that have helped support the tabloid innaccuracies that are prevalent in a lot of today's media.
Where is your evidence that the congestion charge hasn't reduced traffic? Have you undertaken a control study of a similar sized European city that hasn't got a charge? How do you know what the levels of traffic would have been had they not introduced the charge? It could be ten times worse.
The dumbing down and ignorance of people in this country, ready to believe someone they heard down the pub rather than academically and professionally produced evidence is what is driving (sic) this country into the ground.
(I don't work for TfL)
- Liberal And Proud, London, UK, 01/07/2009 13:20
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A spokeswoman for the RAC Foundation said: "Those who don't pay are not sharing the true cost of having vehicles in the capital and are reducing the effectiveness of the scheme."
That's why I joined the AA. Idiots like TFL do not offer a service, shame ES can not have a headline about the Dartford crossing tax. Fleecing the motorist is driven by this misguided propaganda. The public do not support the M6 Toll, 7 crossing, Dartford or the Congestion Charging we already pay expensive road tax less of the stealth taxes like these and more support from the media please
- Jerry, Chiswick, 01/07/2009 12:54
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Your headline should have read:
"Cheats at TFL have conned the public to the tune of billions of pounds in the false assumption that congestion charging has reduced congestion on London's roads".
- Adam, Harrow, UK, 01/07/2009 11:18
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