'Gaping hole' in Ken's car charging profits

[CarZee]

www.thisislondon.co.uk/dynamic/news/story.html?in_review_id=637747&in_review_text_id=608292

quote:Hidden costs have blown a "gaping hole" in the amount of money Ken Livingstone's controversial congestion charge will raise.

The £5-a-day scheme was expected to net £200million a year to fund vital public transport projects in London, according to the Mayor's own Transport Strategy.

But today it is predicted that profits will plunge by £117 million from the original figure to about £83 million a year.

That'd be right...

So Londoners get screwed and all the money does really is pay for the scheme itself - there'll be bugger all money to improve anything..

[mondeoman]

FFS - have you sen the mess they make when they do try to improve anything?? More congestion, more chaos - why oh why oh why did they vote for that tw@t Livingstone??

You can see it now - they'll have toll booths on all the M25 slip roads, turning the whole of London into a no-go area, just to show that he was right with his profit predictions. And what are they going to do if no-one pays?? Thats the campaign that should be started now - Just say NO to road tolls. If no-one pays and they take everyone to court, the whole system will collapse - civil disobedience being used to oust the useless politicians, loverly!! Power to the People!!

[Podie]

"Hidden costs" - like what? A new pad? some fancy furniture? a second mistress?

Reminds me of that episode in the Simpsons, where they tackle Mayor Quimby on the missing pot-hole money and it turns out he's built a private pool with nubile young ladies around...

[M@H]

CarZ... are you sponsored by thisislondon.co.uk to increase their internet traffic or something...??

Cheers
Matt..

[CarZee]

Wish I were...

No great fan of their journalism but a lot of it is relevant and they're not the BBC which is good in itself.

and they give me at least a couple of good stories for us to rant about every week - saves me doing any work and that's the main thing..

Did you send out that follow-up email about needing first-aders for your trip out?

Also, you could ask if anyone knows a human rights lawyer and then exclude them from the trip

[Podie]

quote:
saves me doing any work and that's the main thing..

A man to my own heart...

[wpresland]

I have always wondered. What would happen if you turned up to a toll booth wiht no money?? You could'nt reverse, and the result would be chaos. When they toll the M25 that's exactly what I'll be doing!

[CarZee]

Better hope I'm not behind you and in a hurry

[GregE240]

They take your details down and send you an invoice, or so I believe.

Actually, a few years ago some gimp followed RIGHT behind me through the Auto Toll at the Dartford Tunnel - amazing. Christ alone knows how the barrier didn't drop on his car, but I threw my nugget in, and he was right on my bumper.

Sorry end to the tale though - the traffic was solid through both tunnels so the poor bugger got collared by one of the patrol Landies soon after - that'll learn him

[JohnL]

I wrote a cheque for the toll going through the Tyne tunnel once ...

[Terminator]

quote:
CarZ... are you sponsored by thisislondon.co.uk to increase their internet traffic or something...??

Cheers
Matt..

You should check out some of the US News sites - where else would you headlines like this "Sesame Street to introduce HIV-positive Muppet "

I kid you not!

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20020711/od_uk_nm/oukoe_life_sesamestreet_1&printer=1

[CarZee]

That sounds a lot less ridiculous when you read on and discover that they mean in South Africa, where there are more people with HIV than have a TV!

Then you read further and they're considering introducing the character is the US.. where more people have HIV than have visible ribs

>> Edited by CarZee on Friday 12th July 12:01

[Terminator]

Very true. Most stories, especially Sun headlines, make more sense when you get past the halfway point of the article.

[Gargamel]

the london scheme relies on you buying a permit for £5
you can buy from 5:00pm the night before you travel. or you can travel - then you have until 8:00pm of the day you travel to pay ....

there is no toll as such - so I imagine it is going to collapse under the weight of burearacracy - these are the hidden costs referred to.

[JMorgan]

quote:
I have always wondered. What would happen if you turned up to a toll booth wiht no money?? You could'nt reverse, and the result would be chaos. When they toll the M25 that's exactly what I'll be doing!

On the new Severn crossing they turn you around (take you off one side, up over a bridge and slip road the other way)and send you to the old one where there is a cash point at the services. Bloody daft having no credit card payment thingy.

[king arthur]

quote:
Very true. Most stories, especially Sun headlines, make more sense when you get past the halfway point of the article.

The Sun makes much more sense when you eat your chips out of it, I find.

[Terminator]

quote:The Sun makes much more sense when you eat your chips out of it, I find.

You must live north of Dunstable. Here in London, all the chippies and kebaberies use either the Financial Times or the Big Issue