Beware the congestion charges in London

[peterg]

So I thought a trip into London would be completely free of charges……not so. Firstly the ULEZ emission fee is free….but you have to enter your reg and it confirms the car will not need to pay.
But the congestion charge…… you need to pay a one of fee of £ 10 online which then gives you free access tot the congestion zone but takes up to 10 days to activate. So I ended up paying the £15 congestion charge for a trip the following day.
If I hadn’t checked then it would have been the £80 fine minimum.
Best get the £10 registration fee paid ASAP anybody thinking of a trip into London.

[monkeyhanger]

We're having a bit of a road trip next week - down to Southampton for a few days, then Legoland Windsor, then staying at Wembley for a few days while getting the tube into Central London for sightseeing. I shouldn't stray anywhere near the ULEZ zone.

Agreed though, shouldn't take more than a day to process a registration.

[simonmaskell]

Having registered myself I can guarantee it takes more than a day for TfL to process the registration, I can’t remember exactly but it was about a week

[CarterHounslow]

You won't go anywhere near ULEZ. My car was already known as ULeZ though, but I had to show them the V5C to register as free for congestion and I have to renew once a year. Why? They know its an electric car!

[Leccy]

Yes, annoying that, maybe it’s the space taken up on the road or the rubber laid down on it from the tyres I guess it’s pure revenue generation

[G43FAN]

You won't go anywhere near ULEZ. My car was already known as ULeZ though, but I had to show them the V5C to register as free for congestion and I have to renew once a year. Why? They know its an electric car!

I'm guessing that ULEZ and the DVLA don't update each other so once you've registered your Reg as an EV you could transfer it back to a 6 litre Diesel truck and for a year at least not pay CG?

[Andreas]

So I thought a trip into London would be completely free of charges……not so. Firstly the ULEZ emission fee is free….but you have to enter your reg and it confirms the car will not need to pay.
But the congestion charge…… you need to pay a one of fee of £ 10 online which then gives you free access tot the congestion zone but takes up to 10 days to activate. So I ended up paying the £15 congestion charge for a trip the following day.
If I hadn’t checked then it would have been the £80 fine minimum.
Best get the £10 registration fee paid ASAP anybody thinking of a trip into London.

Errr. I just tried to register mine for the congestion charge, and the TfL website told me I have to pay congestion charge as normal? They've really hidden this application well. Finally found it by Google Search and through driveelectric.com

Also, what do they mean by 'the vehicle needs to be registered as electric'? Registered with or by whom? Way to go TfL.

All the best

Andreas

[Andreas]

You won't go anywhere near ULEZ. My car was already known as ULeZ though, but I had to show them the V5C to register as free for congestion and I have to renew once a year. Why? They know its an electric car!

Because they are useless?

All the best

Andreas

[bitmanEV]

Birmingham does a better job as it goes automatic no need to register they check your license plate and knows it's a BEV

[hwhbev]

So I thought a trip into London would be completely free of charges……not so. Firstly the ULEZ emission fee is free….but you have to enter your reg and it confirms the car will not need to pay.
But the congestion charge…… you need to pay a one of fee of £ 10 online which then gives you free access tot the congestion zone but takes up to 10 days to activate. So I ended up paying the £15 congestion charge for a trip the following day.
If I hadn’t checked then it would have been the £80 fine minimum.
Best get the £10 registration fee paid ASAP anybody thinking of a trip into London.

Thanks for the heads-up. I would have driven there with a smile on my face, until the £80 fine arrived on my doormat.