ian_sadler

I regestered for the fast track card & pay by mobile option today. Mainly to save getting a £120.00 fine [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img]

Anybody else done anything about it?

Ian

FYI Rip Off Gov

Nick n Jewels

Good god! thats rediculous! suppose that's what you get for living and working in London, hell of a way to make money!! My sympathies Ian

Thank goodness for rural England and those of us at the end of the Motorways who can tottle off to work with relative ease.

J

Steve777

iTrader: (8)

Its poor

Move up north mate

cheaper Houses, Cheaper insurance, salaries can be as good

johnfelstead

so if as a northern monkey, i have to drive into london, i have to stop at a petrol station and pay £5 or i get fined £120? Is that right?

p1bobsta

Not quite, you have until 10pm that night to phone a number or visit a website to pay. If you pay after 10pm but before midnight you pay double (£10). If you don't make it by midnight, you'll get a £80 fine. Pay it within 14 days and they halve it to £40... But fail to pay it within one month and it goes up to £120! Sucks, doesn't it?!

Visit www.cclondon.com for the full, horrendous details.

(mind you, when you pay nearly £4/day to insure your Scoob, what's another fiver, hey?!) :-/

Neil Smalley

All everyone has to do is not pay, that way the system will grind to a halt. The major reason why the polltax failed was because so many refused to pay it.

Neil Smalley

Failing that, make up some French number plates or obscure your current ones(only a 20 quid fine)

boomer

So does anyone know why www.cclondon.com is a "secure" web-site? Why should they be using HTTPS just for your to have a look (other than knowing your IP address so that they can then connect that to your car registration details)???

This doubly stinks of big brother - you are paying for them to know what you are doing [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img]

mb

boomer

Oh, and i wonder why B.Liar is about to ban the carrying of air-rifles (See http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/2640221.stm).

Nothing to do with their ability to shoot out the lenses of big-brother cameras???

mb

Neil Smalley

Conspiracy mode on...

Of course, disarming the general population makes it easier to control once the new world order takes over. Who controls the guns controls the population.

Conspiracy mode off...

p1bobsta

boomer... I like your "Big Brother" idea, but unfortunately there's quite a good reason for making the www.cclondon.com site HTTPS only - there's a quick login (number / PIN) section on the front page which really needs secure. Yes, they could switch out of HTTPS for the other "info only" pages but to be honest, the way TLS/SSL works, it's actually more efficient to go all-or-nothing rather than keep switchin in and out of encrypted mode (due to the overhead of the initial handshake). Oh, and they'll have your IP in their logs regardless of whether it's HTTP or HTTPS - sorry(!)

Adrian F

Surely pointing one of the laser pointers at the camera,s will burn out the imaging unit? or Have infra red lamps in your fog lights so that the camera can not see past the bright light into the shadows to read your number plate, possably works with SPEC's? with out blinding other road users?

boomer

p1bobsta,

Are you sure (calling clever computer people!!!)???

I thought that HTTP only could see your proxy address (as provided by your ISP) whereas HTTPS has to be able to connect directly to your PC's IP address, so they can ID you a little closer?

Whatever (sounds like a hit record ), does the camera snooping, big brother, no-where to hide, Newt-Man, London authority have a web-site that doesn't require you to give your inside leg measurement just to see how much it costs to see the Queen ???

Cheers,

mb

stephen30

I used to live in London and in anticipation of said charges and also the severe lack or breathing space on the central line of a morning I invested in a scooter. They are exempt from the charge and a lot more fun to boot. Not I imagine in this weather though. I had mine sideways once in the rain which was pretty scary between two lanes of cars.

Steve

ajm

I think all they will have if the address of the proxy server you go through whether its http or https, the only difference is that https is encrypted between browser and destination server.

what would scooby do

The other vehicles that are exempt are private ambulances and many people are fitting paramedic kit (oxygen bottles) and a few badges and registering their cars. !!!

Jerome

I'm in the process of applying for a residents discount. I "only" have to pay 10% of the charge. As I don't drive in and out of the congestion zone during active hours very often, I'm not that worried about the cost - I'm am applying out of principle. However, I've discovered that the minimum charge is for 5 discounted days (£2.50). So rather than drive one day a week, I may as well make it 5 days. We aren't talking large amounts here, but the principle really p1sses me off.

The one time I am likely to drive out then back into the cc zone, is when I fill up with Optimax early in the morning, ready to drive straight out of London later in the evening that day. So, to leave the cc zone and come back into it (all of 5 yards into the zone) will cost me £2.50.

It also makes me laugh that Ken got so narked by the Post Office charging £1m to process cc payments. He can't see the irony that he was going to be ripped off for ripping off over-taxed motorists

Wurzel

iTrader: (1)

so what happens to foreign cars, my car has German plates, will I get fined on the spot because as soon as I leave the country again there is no way they can claim money off me.

Jerome

Wurzel,

There is a company in Britain that specialises in collecting fines accrued by British drivers in foreign countries. I suspect there are continental equivalents that Ken will make full use of...

The Zohan

Quote
Failing that, make up some French number plates or obscure your current ones(only a 20 quid fine)


Ex-****-actly
Stupid badly thought out and excecuted scheme by the government - bunch of ar$eholes.

No-wonder people drive around with false plates and likley to get worse.

Neil Smalley

Not that i'm suggesting any of the below

False plates is a bigger fine and possible jail term, obscured plates will cost you only 20 quid.

I've heard stories of people spraying their rear plates with hair spray and then driving around for a while. The hairspray causes all the mud to stick and thus obsures the plates.

It won't come to that. The system will grind to a halt way before then.

damian666

It wont grind to a halt.

Its like getting a bus. If you want to travel outside of the center of London, you pay less (30p less) It should be the same for cars. If you want to add to the dirt, pollution, noise, etc in the center of one of the busiest cities in the world, you should be expected to pay. Those who refuse to pay will be fined. Non payment of fines is a criminal offense - who is really going to refuse to pay a fine when they have a picture of your car, numberplate etc. Its your responsibility to pay.

I know people are thinking they will try the speedtrap trick and say 'I dont know who was driving' but it is likely they have a photo of you as well.

TBH £5 or £180 - which would you rather HAVE to pay?

Pete Croney

Interestingly enough, the Tone has just brought out a rule so that you must present a V5 when getting plates made up.

Coincidence?

Neil Smalley

Damian

People won't see it like that. They'll expect less congestion for their money and when they don't they will rebel and not pay. If people won't pay en mass(like they did in the poll tax) then the system will grind to halt.

Honest people cough up, but when it gets too cumbersome, unfair they'll rebel. It happend with the poll tax, it will happen again. Sooner or later

astraboy

<All everyone has to do is not pay, that way the system will grind to a halt. >
Apparently if you dont pay up you'll get a CCJ for your troubles. Then your life will grind to a halt everytime you want to buy a sofa, get a credit card etc, etc, etc,
Barstewards.
astraboy.

RobinSherwood

Damian,

The issue of whether or not a charge is justified is to great extent irrelevant, it is the execution of the Congestion Charge that is going to be a problem. Our local licenced taxi firm have been told it will take a year before their application for exemption is processed due to the backlog. In the meantime their drivers have to pay the charge.

Further more I work in the 'medical mile' and many of our patients travel from all over the UK to see us. Many of these people are not fit enough to travel by public transport so have to be brought by car. They already have to pay nearly £5 an hour parking to Westminster and another £5 for the CC is going to be tough on these people. It would be easy to say if people can afford private medicine they can afford an extra £5 but I can assure you this is not the case, many patients struggle to pay the fees and whilst we try never to turn anyone away because they can't afford it ultimately there is only so far we can go as we are a business and not a charity. The treatement we offer is also not available anywhere else in the world.

Ours is not the only practice whose patients will be affected in this way.

There are many more examples of why Mr Livingstone's scheme (justified or not) is very poorly thought through but frankly I have wasted enough time already. when I should be working and not be on Scoobynet.

<<rant mode off>>

[Edited by RobinSherwood - 1/9/2003 2:43:46 PM]