"Richard J." wrote:

Mizter T wrote on 24 November 2010 15:43:55 ...

"Walter wrote:

I know of the mobile vans within the zone. I believe fixed cameras are
only on the cordon. I suspect parked vehicles will be checked manually.

Though of course for cars that are parked in an on-street resident's bay
which are registered for a CC residents discount there's no need to pay
the
discounted CC so long as they aren't driven at all during charging hours
(of
course they'll also need a valid residents parking permit, but that's the
local council's department not TfL's). I wonder if the CC enforcement
bods
do bother checking parked vehicles at all?

I don't see any point in checking parked vehicles inside the zone. If
they're parked, they are not incurring the charge, and the fact that they
are parked doesn't tell you anything about their movements into and out of
the parking place, which may or may not incur the charge.


You said - "If they're parked, they are not incurring the charge[...]"

I must admit I had to double-check on this when I posted earlier, because
what you've said above is kinda what I thought was the situation was -
however see the below from page 4 of this leaflet (PDF):
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/CC-Cameras.pdf

---quote---
You will incur a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) if you drive or park on public
roads in the Congestion Charging zone during operating hours, aren't
eligible for an exemption or registered for a discount, and don't pay the £8
charge by midnight on the day of travel or the £10 charge by midnight of the
next charging day.
---/quote---


So the CC is actually payable if you "drive *or* park on public roads"
during operating hours, unless you're vehicle is registered for a discount.
(The bit I said about the vehicle having to be parked in an on-street
resident's bay is from memory, as I couldn't quickly find reference to that
just now, but that's also what friends who live in the zone regard as being
the rules.)

Arguably, even if a car is parked in the zone and doesn't move at all during
the charging hours it could still be said to be contributing towards
congestion I suppose. I also wonder if part of the logic is that the mobile
CC camera vans can't definitively detect the difference between a parked
vehicle and one moving very slowly, or indeed one that's stopped in traffic?

Though from elsewhere in the aforementioned leaflet - specifically page 1 -
it does say this:

---quote---
The cameras read your number plate as you enter, leave, or drive within the
charging zone, and check it against the database [...]
---/quote---


No specific mention of the cameras checking parked cars - though, given the
leaflet's focus is the cameras, there's nothing in that text that'd actually
rule out manual checks on parked cars being done by staff on the ground.
However I'd wager that they don't do any such checks, but might nonetheless
'reserve the right' to do them if they were to deem it necessary for
whatever reason.