Motorists driving in London face tougher enforcement of the congestion charging scheme in a desperate attempt by Transport for London to prop up a multi-million shortfall in income, warns The AA Motoring Trust.

Net revenue from congestion charging, which is one year old this week is predicted to be just £18 million – less than 10 per cent of the original target of £200 million. This is due to increased operational costs (£97 million) and major errors in measuring traffic patterns to work out how many drivers would need to pay the £5 fee.

But the net revenue is to be bolstered by another £50 million in penalty charges, making fines a major source of income for the scheme, the AA Trust says.

Desperate manoeuvres

Paul Watters, head of roads and transport at the AA Motoring Trust, says: “A recent surge in penalties, some issued just seconds before the charging hours cease proves that TfL is desperate to raise more cash. If it is going to resort to this sort of tactic, it should erect electronic ‘zone-on/zone-off’ signs on all approaches to the charging area, so that drivers are in no doubt about whether they are safe to drive within the zone without being fined.”

The AA Trust says that a typical example of more revenue-driven enforcement include the case of a motorist who drove into the charging zone because, according to his watch, the 6.30pm cut-off time had passed. He was actually clocked by TfL cameras at 6.29 and 37 seconds – just 23 seconds before the evening deadline.

Paul Watters says: “This behaviour leaves TfL is open to both moral and legal challenge. The purpose of penalties must be to improve compliance, not raise revenue.”

The AA Trust is also appalled by the treatment being dished out to some of the scheme’s registered customers, who also seem to be the target of tougher enforcement.

"TfL knows who its regular, honest customers are"

Paul Watters says: “Registered customers – such as those who pay regularly by text message or central London residents who have paid their yearly discounted charge in advance – are being needlessly fined for minor glitches.”

“One motorist who genuinely thought he had paid for two weeks’ worth of trips later found out that something had gone wrong in the processing, and is now fighting two weeks’ worth of fines. TfL knows who its regular, honest customers are and should be contacting them when errors like this happen, not stinging them for thousands of pounds in penalties.”

“We already know that thousands of drivers are deliberately dodging the £5 charge – and getting away with it. In some cases, this is because they are driving vehicles that are inaccurately registered with the DVLA, and are therefore untraceable. While these law-breakers continue to escape congestion charging penalties, honest drivers and companies who make every effort to pay up are being squeezed ever tighter.”

AA Trust research, based on thousands of journeys made in London over the last year, shows that traffic speeds within the zone are up by two miles an hour compared to a year ago. Speeds on routes within a six mile radius are up by one mile an hour, while those on routes within 12 miles of the charging zone are unchanged.

Paul Watters says: “Journeys within the zone were undoubtedly easier at the start of the scheme. But the improvements may not be holding as roadworks return to typical levels and capacity is removed for bus lanes and pavement widening. It is crucial how well or badly traffic engineering is done – for example, on the ring road re-phasing of traffic lights and ground level improvements have meant both speeds and traffic flow have increased.”

Benefits as a whole are marginal

The AA Trust adds that the benefits that the scheme has brought to London as a whole are marginal – the higher than expected costs and lower benefits are now evenly matched. The scheme has not delivered the level of economic benefits on which the Government approved it.

The impact on retail business is far from clear, and the hidden costs to businesses and people in complying with the scheme could be much greater than the £15 million estimated by TfL.

Says Paul Watters: “A year on, the jury is out on whether the pain and costs of introducing the scheme have been worth the gain. The AA Trust believes that London as a whole would be no better or no worse off overall were the scheme to stay or be scrapped. Most Londoners are unaffected by it, but the thousands of drivers who have been messed around by the back office systems could well be wishing it had never been brought in.”