Sidthecat wrote:

Gadge wrote:

The ULEZ proposal only covers a small area of central London.

On the plus side, I would rarely choose to take a car into central London.
It is a hassle to park and quite challenging to navigate unless you know the roads well.

It is much easier to take the tube/bus.

Routing around London is nowadays easier via M25 or North Circular, both of which fall outside proposed ULEZ.

I quite agree, unless like me you work shifts and on various days need to be in work at around 6-630am - I work in Bow, E3 about a mile north of the Blackwall Tunnel. If I'm forced on to public transport it means getting up at 4, catching the bus at 5, then taking two DLR journeys The returns no better, leaving at 18-1830 and hoping to be indoors an hour later. Becomes a very long day.
Presently I live and work outside the proposed ULEZ but undoubtedly when it becomes obvious how much money it's generating it'll be expanded , as was the initial congestion charging zone.
And where does all that money go, certainly not spent on road repairs or speeding up existing routes.
Any way, hoping to have retired by then and moved away

I know that feeling.... I used to work shifts down on the M4 corridor and was constantly in discussions with colleagues about car sharing or public transport etc.... but it could never be a viable option for shift workers anywhere. Car is the only way.

thankfully I now work Mon-Fri normal hours and have a very pleasant 35 minute commute through Sherwood Forest and up the A1 with no prospect of ever entering a congestion zone or LEZ

I'm with the Emergency Services so simply moving job to be away from London's not such an easy option, sadly

Unless it's snowy or really icy I commute by motorcycle, you get where you're going within a reasonable and estimated time and you don't have toot much trouble parking when you get there. Oh and it's not compulsory to filter like a nutter through the tunnel if you don't want to.

When I last visited London by bike it was bl***y terrifying!!

Despite riding a Tiger 1200, complete with full hard luggage, driving in the centre of a lane was impossible (this was on the North Circular). Car drivers would see it as “waisted tarmac” and just drive into where I was riding. Won’t ever be visiting again

I admire those that can do it and still live

Are you people sure I can drive my FL2 TD4 into the LEZ ?

On the website I read I need to register and that there is a daily charge of £100 for Larger vans - Motorised horseboxes
4x4 light utility vehicles,Pick-ups, Other specialist vehicles.

https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/low-emission-zone/make-a-payment

Think its only if your car was registered prior to 2002?

use the vehicle check if in doubt

https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/low-emiss...s-affected 

Just used the vehicle checker and my 2012 Freelander is exempt from any charge. The checker looks like it will only work with UK registered vehicles and the website says that any vehicle not recognised by the system (ie not UK registered will have to pay £200 a day) To avoid this you have to register your vehicle with them and provide proof etc which can take up to 10 days to get accepted) Not sure that timescale will fit with Mcleods travel timetable

No it doesn't. Leaving tomorrow.

Should I worry ? Will they stop me or will they send me a bill/fine at home (Belgium)
Do they have acces to my identity ?

Looking at their website it says that they use European debt collection agencies to collect penalty fines on their behalf and that they will wherever possible collect fines from non UK registered vehicles. Their website is a little confusing however as it states that if your vehicle is UK registered and meets the required emission standards then there is no need to register on their website. However a non UK registered vehicle that meets the required emission standard does require to be registered on their website with proof of emissions provided. No quick solution that I can see to work around it unless you hired a vehicle once your in the UK to get around London which might be a cheaper option than the possibility of some large fines chasing you down. Or dispute any fines on the grounds that your vehicle does meet the required standards. Sorry I can`t be of more help! Good luck whatever your decision but I think it would take the edge of any holiday if you always had the worry of will I get a big fine for driving down this road any time you headed into London.

Unbelievable : so the car is clean enough to travel travel through London, but because it hasn't got UK plates I can get a large fine ?


I wonder : Would they be able to identify me ? I payed the Dartford crossing several times, so they have my details. Are they connected tot TFL ? Do they share these personal data ?

The response in brackets below is an extract from a reply from Transport for London who were asked about unpaid fines by foreign drivers and how many outstanding fines there were. The info that they supplied although now several years old showed that there was a steady year on year increase in unpaid fines. Not me that asked, just found by doing a general search. Also the info is now about 9 years old so things may have moved on a bit since then.

(To put the information into context, it may be useful if I outline that
TfL does accept payment of the Congestion Charge for vehicles displaying
foreign vehicle registrations (FVRs). These can be identified by TfL
cameras and matched to the relevant payment. Should a foreign vehicle be
identified without a valid payment, a penalty charge will be generated.
However, if the vehicle is not registered in the UK, it will not be
possible to issue an actual penalty charge notice. European Parking
Collection Plc (EPC) has been authorised by TfL to act on our behalf in
administering the issuing of penalty charges to the keepers of vehicles
registered outside the UK. By employing EPC, TfL have significantly
increased the amount of debts recovered from countries outside of the UK,
with a collection rate of 35% where the keeper details can be obtained.
The issue regarding unpaid penalty charges incurred by foreign vehicles,
relates to a much wider EU problem of cross-border traffic enforcement.
There is still great difficulty in identifying the drivers of non-UK
vehicles, principally because no legal framework exists to allow civil
debts incurred in a foreign country to be transferred to the court system
of the resident country.)

No help to the foreign visitor above but all this does is reinforce my opinion that London is a hateful place to be avoided.

Should be ropes and red lamps around it with signs saying Danger Hole in the World. Hat tip to Mike Harding circa 1975.

In fairness Birmingham should receive the same treatment.