The Labour Mayor of London's latest wheeze to punish car drivers is to charge anyone who lives outside Greater London £5.50 per day to cross the boundary into Greater London. Not such a big issue to the zone one crowd running City Hall but for us out here on the fringes we all have friends and family living just outside who would be charged for crossing a boundary. If they live in places like Warlingham, Caterham or Whyteleafe then they'd have to pay - places just down the road from Purley and Riddlesdown and which are a lot closer to where we live than central London, Norbury or Crystal Palace.
This is just the most recent proposal from a Mayor and a Labour Party who love to target car drivers. First it was the expansion of the Congestion Charge to 10pm and £15 (a 30% increase) under the pretence that TfL had to do it instead of choosing to do it. Then came the Low Traffic Neighbourhoods that the local residents hated and that actually made pollution worse for anyone living on a main road (I used to live on Brighton Road so know how bad traffic can be to live with). Now comes a bonkers plan that would penalise anyone not living in London from crossing into London even if it was just the outer reaches, even if it made no difference to traffic use (public transport is significantly less available on the London fringes like Riddlesdown) and even if it was for work. For instance, over half of London's Police Officers live outside London and if they drive to work, as many do because of the unsocial hours, then they'll pay just to get there. A friend of mine lives in Tatsfield and works in Selsdon and would have to pay the £5.50 for the sake of half a mile down Old Farleigh Road. Labour madness!
