Boris lands congestion fine charge

Friday, 9 January 2009 12:00 AM

By politics.co.uk staff

London Mayor Boris Johnson has admitted being hit by a congestion charge fine.

The mayor revealed the fine while on the Vanessa Feltz radio phone-in show for BBC London, where he described the system as "wretched" and "crazy".

"Speaking as a victim of this wretched system, the other day I drove in to light the Hanukah thing, the Hanukah Menorah, and I got done by my own system and I forgot to pay," he said.

"And then bing! I got the £60 fine. I have just coughed up."

During the phone in Mr Johnson also admitted forgetting to increase the time window drivers have to pay the fine, something he had promised to do earlier in his tenure.

It currently stands at 48 hours, but road campaigners want the period extended to a month.
Plans are also underway at the Mayor's Office to introduce an account-based payment system once the technology is available.

"That would get away from the crazy system whereby you suddenly get clobbered by these fines," Mr Johnson said.

Mr Johnson faced the ire of environmental campaigners last year when he scrapped the western extension of the charging zone.

Tags:
• congestion charge
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• public services
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• road
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• transport