Travelling by Car in and around London

Although driving in London is something of an exhilarating experience, the car remains the best mode of transport to use if you want to leave the capital and seek out the provincial treasures of England.

No form of public transport is able to allow you to explore pretty hidden villages or meander down innumerable country lanes. The UK is also incredibly diverse in terms of scenery, architecture, accents and culture - within a relatively small area there is a cornucopia of fascinating places to visit and hiring a car is frankly the best way to see them.

The Congestion Charge for London was introduced on the 17th February 2003, the aim is to get traffic flowing more freely within an 8 square mile zone in Central London.

If you drive into this zone between Monday and Friday during the hours of 7am to 6.30pm then you will have to pay £5. The detection cameras, which cost £200 million, will probably work. Public holidays and weekends are free (for the moment).

The £5 fee is a daily charge, the simplest way to pay is by calling 0845 900 1234 and giving them your credit card details, although you can pay online or by text message.

Failure to pay before midnight of the day that you entered the zone will cost you a hefty £80, reduced to £40 if you pay the fine within 14 days; after 28 days this increases to £120. If you still fail to pay, then the Mayor has teams of clampers and four debt collecting agencies who will do what they do best and probably charge you a fee for doing so.

If you pay after 10pm, but before midnight the charge isn't £5, it's £10, how this is justified is frankly beyond us? Come to that how any of this is justified is beyond us.

All profits from the scheme, after the various costs have been taken out must go toward improving the public transport in London. Now it's just our opinion but perhaps public transport should have been improved before introducing this charge. They should have adopted the 'carrot' approach rather than the 'stick'.

London has now become even more reliant on the public transport system and the people who run the buses, tubes and railways than ever. Now it's just another opinion, but the trade unions will almost certainly realise this when it comes to pay 'negotiations' later this year. Possibly another summer of discontent may be looming up on the horizon?

The really good news is that cities across the globe are monitoring the 'success' of the scheme, and congestion tax (oops charge) could be coming to a city near you. Apart from Paris of course, as there is no way on this earth that Parisians would ever accept a scheme as ill thought out as this.