John B wrote:
Greg Hennessy wrote:
Reported last night that Ken proposes to charge £25 a day for the most
polluting cars.


Thinly disguised class warfare to divert away from other more pressing
matters.

Voluntary progressive taxation is not the same as class warfare.

Is he now acknowledging the folly of extending the zone instead of
creating a separate zone for the western extension?

Unlikely.

Agreed.

If zone inhabitants pay 10%, the £2.50 a day charge might be a slight
incentive for them to use lighter vehicles.

Even more unlikely. Yummy mummies driving 'Chelsea tractors' in the zone,
are not going to be inconvenienced in the slightest.

True. However, the fact that they'll contribute an extra £650-ish each
a year to TfL coffers is no bad thing - it partially addresses the
outrageous anomaly that Council Tax stops at Band H...

--
John Band
john at johnband dot org
www.johnband.org

Although I do not normally subscribe to class-warfare type causes,
something our Deputy Prime Minister does adequately for all of us put
together, I do agree that Chelsea tractors ought to pay more for the
following reasons:

1. Their drivers are so often appallingly bad at driving, which results
in
(a) road-hogging
and (b) poor parking, both causing much inconvenience for others;
2. Their journey (e.g. 200 yards to take Annabelle to prep school) is
so often totally unnecessary
3. They do use more fuel and cause more pollution

But, I also agree that £600-odd will be unlikely to be much felt by
those who can afford to drive such monstrosities in the first place.

Marc.