Simply

On Monday, February 17th 2003 a congestion charge, (known locally as the Kengestion charge after the man who brought it in, Ken Livingston London Mayor), was introduced into the central areas of London. Based on a system of cameras that photographs and then registers you car licence plate number in its database. These cameras are located at all entry points into the London congestion charge zone and within the zone itself and actually photograph both front and rear plates on entry and exit of the zones. There also some mobile units that can take pictures anywhere within the zone. The cost of setting up the scheme was Ł200 million pounds and the cost of running the scheme is around Ł115 million pounds a year. In its first two years the scheme made Ł70 million pounds and Ł97 million pounds in 2004/2005.
Congestion in the zone has fallen by 30% while the volume of traffic within the zone is down by 15%. 30% of business's within the zone reported a drop in trade although 22% noted an increase. However motorists continue to complain of being wrongly fined having paid the charge or not even having been in the zone at the time the system registered the number plate. The current system of cameras works on analogue technology and accuracy is not 100% and can be affected by things such as the weather. The system has also seen an increase in the number of cloned licence plates. This is a situation where a driver will copy the plates of a similar vehicle. This is the stumbling block o...

Simply

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