£10 C-CHARGE FOR DRIVERS OF 4X4s UNDER NEW LIB DEM PROPOSALS

12.15.11pm BST (GMT +0100) Tue 13th Jul 2004

The Liberal Democrats will later today put forward new groundbreaking proposals to double the toll on 4x4 motor vehicles entering the congestion charge zone.

As part of the proposals that have been put forward as part of the ongoing strategic review, Congestion Charge, the Next Steps - An interim report on C-charge, the Liberal Democrats have proposed a £10 fee increase for 4x4 vehicles entering the existing Congestion Charge Zone. This would reduce congestion, cut the number of pedestrian injuries and reduce pollution.

Lynne Featherstone will point out that one in every seven cars bought in London are 4x4s, with Londoners buying more 4x4s than anywhere else in the country. Ms Featherstone will also point out that in June 2004, the Paris Council voted to ban all 4x4s from the streets of the city. It is set to become operational in January 2005.

Liberal Democrat Transport Spokesman and Chair of the London Assembly Transport Committee, Lynne Featherstone, said:-

"Four by four vehicles in city centres are a danger to pedestrians, a potential hazard to other road users, can cause more damage than any other type of car and takes up more roadspace so increasing congestion.

"The congestion charge has been a success, but the series of proposals we have put together for the zone are to make it easier and more effective. The one size fits all congestion charge is both outdated and flawed."

"It is time the Mayor considered new and innovative ways of enabling roadspace in central London to work better. The Mayor stuck his neck out with the congestion charge, but he is burying his head in the sand when it comes to implementing improvements."

ENDS

A copy of the report is below:-

CONGESTION CHARGE;

THE NEXT STEPS

An interim review by the Liberal Democrats on improvements to the existing Congestions charging operations

July 2004

CONTENTS

FOREWORD 3

RECOMMENDATIONS 3

4X4S 4

Pollution 4

Increased fatalities 4

WRONG SCHEME AT THE WRONG TIME 5

SATELLITE TECHNOLOGY IS THE FUTURE 5

STILL AWAITING VITAL INFORMATION 6

UNFAIR AND UNSETTLING 7

IMPORTANT INTERIM MEASURES 7

FURTHER ONGOING STUDIES BEING UNDERTAKEN AS PART OF THE STRATEGIC REVIEW 8

APPENDIX 1 8

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS 8

Foreword

1.1 As Liberal Democrats we have always supported the principle of congestion charging in London. Since its introduction last year it has been an unprecedented success reducing congestion by 30%. However much more needs to be done to improve the operability side of the operation, the usability for customers as well as to reduce the administrative burden on business.

1.2 This report is part of an ongoing strategic review of the way the Congestion charge is working. As part of this review, interim reports with policy recommendations are published to push forward the thinking on the way a 21st century congestion charge should work for London and Londoners.

Recommendations

2.1 As part of this ongoing review Liberal Democrats propose the following changes to the existing Congestion Charge scheme:

· CHARGE £10 for each 4x4 vehicle entering the zone

· REPORT on the feasibility of GPS satellite Congestion Charging

· END the congestion charge at 5pm instead of 6.30pm

· EXTEND the period for paying at the normal rate up to midnight, and for all of the following day

· INTRODUCE block purchasing/pre pay of C-charge passes

· GIVE five free goes into the Congestion charge zone

· SCRAP the C-Charge between Christmas and New Year

· HALT any expansion of the scheme into Kensington and Chelsea

4x4s

3.1 According to research carried out by Black Horse Motor Finance, which has compiled a UK 4WD Buyers League based on purchases made by more than 70,000 of its customers including new and used vehicles, it shows the number of purchases of 4x4s in the UK as a proportion of the total number of cars bought and sold as: -

· London - 14.9%

· South Midlands - 14.2%

· South East - 13.8%

· West Midlands - 13.3%

· South West - 13.0%

· East Anglia - 13.0%

· Wales - 12.8%

· East Midlands - 12.0%

· (UK Average - 11.9%)

· North East - 10.8%

· Scotland - 10.2%

· North West - 10.2%

· Northern Ireland - 10.1%

Pollution

3.2 4X4s are among the most environmentally harmful vehicles on the market, emitting up to four times more CO2 than cars and only doing approximately 12 mpg in city traffic. They also emit up to 81% more toxic nitrogen oxides and 41% more tiny carbon particles, which are blamed for hastening death every year.

Increased fatalities

3.3 Clay Gabler, an associate professor in the department of mechanical engineering at Rowan University in Glassboro, New Jersey, along with his colleague Devon Lefler, looked at three major databases on US traffic accidents over the last decade. They discovered that while the number of pedestrians killed by cars decreased between 1991 and 2000, the number killed by 4x4s, pick-up trucks and vans increased by 10%.

3.4 Focusing on the 89% of accidents that involved a single vehicle and a single pedestrian, they then calculated the number of pedestrian fatalities per 1000 crashes by type of vehicle, between 1995 and 2000.

3.5 The results clearly showed that the larger and more blunt-fronted the vehicle was, the more likely it was to kill.

3.6 So while 4.5% of pedestrians struck by a car died, the figure rose to 7.8% when they were hit by a small 4x4, and 11.5% when hit by a large one. In the study published by Accident Analysis & Prevention, and reported by New Scientist, Gabler and Lefler concluded that pedestrians struck by large SUVs are twice as likely to die as pedestrians struck by cars.

3.7 Other reports also suggest that motorists in side impact accidents with 4x4s are 27 times more likely to die than those hit by other cars.

Wrong scheme at the wrong time

4.1 The Liberal Democrat group believes that the Mayor's westward extension proposals are the wrong scheme at the wrong time. The Mayor risks damaging his Central Zone scheme, which has been stunningly successful in reducing traffic and congestion, by an extension which is politically driven rather than actually needed.

4.2 The technology used for the Central Zone Scheme, based on fixed and roving cameras linked to the DVLC database, limits the areas to which the current scheme can be extended. The westward extension into Kensington and Chelsea is therefore arbitrary - it happens to be the area adjacent to the Central Zone scheme. The Mayor has not presented evidence to prove that his proposed westward extension area suffers more from congestion than, for example, town centres in outer London.

4.3 We feel that the Mayor has rushed ahead with his westward extension scheme now in order to get his proposals well publicised ahead of the Mayoral elections in June 2004, and to capitalise on what has already been acknowledged as a real success. He is choosing to do what can be done quickly, rather than what might benefit more Londoners if he proceeded at a more measured pace.

Satellite technology is the future

5.1 Greater London has a great many congested "hot-spots" - often high streets in our town centres, but there are a range of bottlenecks and congested junctions. Flexible road pricing, which can be varied to target times of day or days of the week, could reduce traffic in these hot-spots, and free them up for public transport, deliveries and other essential users.

5.2 Flexible road pricing - the next phase of congestion charging, - depends on the development of global positioning satellite technology. Transport for London is already doing some work on how GPS technology might be applied. GPS is already used in Brighton to manage the bus fleet and provide passengers with real time information. Central government intends to introduce road pricing throughout the whole of the United Kingdom for trucks and lorries as early as the end of the 2008.

5.3 The Department for Transport is giving very serious consideration to developing road-pricing throughout UK.

5.4 Our understanding is that this technology would facilitate payment for using particular districts or roadways or junctions by automatically deducting money from specified bank accounts or credit card accounts. This would be a very considerable advance for vehicle users on the current arrangements involving phone calls or visits to retail outlets.

5.5 Liberal Democrats would direct Transport for London to step up its work on developing road pricing by GPS systems so that locations right across London could benefit from the traffic reduction that congestion charging can bring - rather than using old technology to give arbitrary advantages to one limited area.

Still awaiting vital information

6.1 Transport for London have made it clear that the monitoring and investigation work they are carrying out into the social, economic and business effects of the Central Zone scheme are unlikely to be published before the close of the extension consultations.

6.2 The John Lewis Partnership commissioned Professor Michael Bell of Imperial College London to conduct a detailed research project into the effects of the Central Zone scheme on their business and into customer behaviour arising from the scheme. Professor Bell reported that there were adverse effects on the John Lewis store in Oxford Street though these were not particularly severe. A significant conclusion of his report was that many people living outside Greater London did not understand that the scheme did not operate at weekends or in the evenings.

6.3 The London Assembly's Transport Committee has heard evidence from the business sector indicating that some of the effects of the Central Zone scheme have been adverse, and that it may need some amendment. Similarly, the effects of the charge on socially disadvantaged sectors of the community may need further and serious consideration.

6.4 For all these reasons, the Liberal Democrats think the Mayor's decision to rush ahead with his westward extension scheme before all these effects are known and properly considered, is reckless and inappropriate.

Unfair and unsettling

7.1 The Mayor appears not to have taken into account the very high proportion of residential properties within his proposed westward extension. All the residents there will be given 90% reduction on their congestion charge, and this will apply to the whole of what will become one larger Central Zone.

7.2 This means that a few thousand Londoners will be given the unfair advantage of being able to use their vehicles right across central London at minimal cost. Indeed, because they can only pay for a whole week (£2.50), and not by individual days, they have an added incentive to use their cars more so they get the best value from their weekly charge.

7.3 Inevitably this will cause a rise in the number of vehicles entering and moving around in the existing Central Zone, which will unsettle a scheme which has so far seen a very pleasing reduction in traffic volumes.

Important interim measures

8.1 The Mayor has accepted some of the Liberal Democrat proposals advanced during the Mayoral elections - notably an earlier finishing time for the charge each day and the suspension of the charge between Christmas and the New Year. He has also committed himself to introduce technology that will allow drivers to opt for their account to be automatically debited when they drive inside the CC Zone.

8.2 Liberal Democrats believe his 6pm 'finish time' is unnecessarily timid. Our own proposal was 5pm. Rush hour traffic after work is much less concentrated than the morning rush. People travelling into central London for an evening's entertainment may well need to reach the Zone before 6pm to get their vehicle parked and have a pre-show dinner.

8.3 The Mayor has not accepted the Liberal Democrat proposal that was most popular with press and public during the election - that drivers should have an extra day to pay the charge. He argues that if given an extra 24 hours people would put paying to the back of their minds and forget altogether. We think the £10 charge levied after 10pm on the day of use would be enough of a spur during the following day for them to remember to avoid a £40 fine. Our aim is to avoid punishing (and alienating) well-intentioned drivers who simply forget to pay on the use day under the pressures of a busy life.

8.4 We re-assert the importance of "five free entries" per year into the Central Zone as this will go a long way to encouraging back those shoppers who live well outside Greater London. They need to be reassured that the occasional 'day-out in London' shopping trip will not involve them in heavy fines. With suitable ongoing publicity, it could be used to promote a revitalised shopping district in Oxford Street and Regent Street.

Further ongoing studies being undertaken as part of the Strategic Review

9.1 The review is also identifying further key areas that will be explored as part of the review. There will be other further areas explored by the review in subsequent reports. Current ongoing studies include: -

1. Extending exemptions to further categories of key

2. Varying the present hours of use.

3. Introducing a narrow buffer zone around the present zone, where residents would pay a reduced charge.

4. Changing the C-charge rules for vehicle fleets to help small business

APPENDIX 1

Q&A

Questions & Answers

Q: An extra 26hrs, so when do I have to pay?

A: Congestion charge will have to be paid by midnight the following day.

Q: Why an extra 26hrs to pay?

A: Every day 8,000 drivers are fined for not paying the congestion charge before 10 pm. For a large number of these it is simply because they have forgotten, or not had sufficient time, to pay before the 10pm deadline. An extra 26hrs would give the majority of honest drivers a fair amount of time to pay without the speedy imposition of a fine.

Q: How will allowing businesses to phone up to check if one of their vehicles has been in congestion charging zone be helpful?

A: Many small and medium size businesses have to waste hours at the end of each day checking the routes of their vehicles to make sure they haven't entered the Zone. If they are not exactly sure about the precise route of a vehicle, the only option available at present is to pay (perhaps unnecessarily) - or else they risk getting a fine. We propose allowing businesses to register their vehicles and providing a telephone service which will enable them to check on and pay for vehicles entering the Zone. We are considering a small fee for business registration for this service.

Q: How much will all this cost?

A: These will not have any significant effect on affect the profitability of congestion charging. Any small loss in revenue would be outweighed by the improved service to Londoners.