From Monday (10 December 2007) drivers who fail to pay the London Congestion Charge will face a fine of £120, discounted to £60 if paid within 14 days.
Transport for London say the changes will bring the charge into line with the rate of penalties issued by London Boroughs for traffic and parking offences.
At present drivers who fail to pay by midnight either on the day of travel or the following charging day receive a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) of £100. This is reduced to £50 if payment is made within 14 days.
According to TfL15 per cent of penalties currently result in challenges and around one per cent result in an appeal to the independent adjudicators. Of those appeals heard by adjudicators TfL consistently wins around 85 to 90 per cent, the highest success rate of any civil traffic enforcement regime
Graeme Craig, Director of Congestion Charging, said: “Last year we introduced Pay Next Day, which reduced the number of penalties issued to those who forget to pay by around 15 per cent, and we are currently investigating the feasibility of introducing an automated payment system that could further reduce this number.”
