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Congestion charge fines will soon be a thing of the past for many motorists thanks to an automated payment system being introduced next year.
New technology means drivers will be able to have the £8 daily charge deducted from their account automatically, eliminating the threat of fines of up to £180 for late payment.
The system will be introduced following an election pledge from Mayor Boris Johnson to make the congestion charge fairer and simpler to use.
It has been developed by IBM for when the group takes over the running of the charge from Capita in November. Transport for London said the system should be in place by the start of next year.
On average 100,000 fines are issued each month, and nine million late penalties have been handed out since the charge was introduced in February 2003. TfL takes £73 million a year in late penalties. Drivers are charged £8 if they pay on the day they travel and £10 the day after. The charge can be £180 if not paid within a month.
TfL said it had considered the loss in revenue from fines when making long-term budget plans and that it had cut costs to compensate. A source said: “The Mayor said he wanted to introduce it and that is going to be done in 2010. When he came into office he said he wanted to make it as fair as possible and as simple as possible.”
The congestion charge costs at least £130 million to administer and raises £89 million each year for re-investment into public transport.
In 2007/08 more than 1.5 million fines were issued, raising £73 million from motorists in late payments.
TfL said: “The transition of the congestion charging contract to IBM will enable TfL to introduce automated payment accounts during 2010… Essentially these accounts will allow drivers to register their vehicle registration number and a credit or debit card with TfL in advance, with payments processed automatically based on the detection of the vehicle in the zone.”
The contract between TfL and IBM will last for five years with an option to extend for a further five years.
Paul Watters, head of roads policy at the AA, said it was time the system changed: “It is quite wrong to have so much revenue from penalties and anything that reduces that is a bonus.”
Reader views (7)
About time too, the fines are a blatant method of getting more cash from the scheme and are extremely unfair.
When the scheme was proposed I understood why and was in favour of it, had one extremely unfair fine though (as they can't tell you if you have to pay until after you have to have paid, and if you pay in case and it turns out you didn't have to pay then there is no refund), after which I resented the scheme which seemed purely about raking in cash rather than reducing congestion.
Automatic payments will make it a much fairer system.
- Ringoschplingo, London, 20/01/2010 11:06
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You report says: "The congestion charge costs at least £130 million to administer and raises £89 million each year for re-investment into public transport."
if the CC costs over £41 million more to administer than it brings in (£130m minus £89m), where's the money for investment in public transport?
Or is your reporter in a muddle?
- Jobo, London, 20/01/2010 10:06
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I have been charged £180 even though I posted a cheque to them - can anyone offer advise on how to fight this?
- Cathryn, London, 20/01/2010 10:06
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Singapore introduced this technology 35 years ago.....it was typical of Livingstone that he went for outdated techonolgy that was incredibly expensive to run. If the whole process had not been a political football, this IBM technology could and should have been introduced at the beginning of the scheme.....but there again what did we expect when we leave these decisions to politicians of the calibre of Livingstone?
- Simon, London, 20/01/2010 10:06
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Can't wait for this, should never have been such a big fine after just 48 hours anyway.
Jobo i think you'll find it's:
219m total revenue = 130m costs + 89m reinvestment
- Gavin, London, 20/01/2010 10:06
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About time too. Livingstone deliberately introduced this system with fines as it is the only way the scheme can even hope to break even. Without the fines it will make a loss because of the massive operational and capital costs.
- Adam, Harrow, UK, 20/01/2010 10:06
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Thank goodness! These late charges were nothing more than a nasty little ploy designed to catch people out in the most underhand and expensive way.
Nice one, Boris, these are the sort of things which will make a lot of people vote for you come the next election!
- St, London, 20/01/2010 10:06
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