Surveillance Society

Words fail me having read this from Spy Blog. It appears that London drivers are being monitored 24/7 by the ANPR and LEZ cameras that I have blogged about before. Read the whole article and then wonder at how we became this spied upon society, oh yes a quarter of the adult population voted Labour.

LEZ to be used as a tax collection device

Brian Paddick has shown he is no more a friend of London than is Mayor Ken Livingstone. It seems that he plans to charge anyone from outside of London £10 to enter the Low Emmissions Zone. He said ""A Greater London congestion charge will have a real impact on congestion and pollution. This is about getting people out of their cars and on to public transport." The man is clearly as out of touch with reality as is Mayor Ken; the tubes are full, so are the buses and people want to use their cars. He has also vowed to scrap the LEZ claiming it puts small businesses at risk - a good idea, just a shame how much money Ken has wasted on setting up the scheme, but that's what Ken is good at - wasting Londoners' money. Another of Mr Paddick's "ideas" is to bring in a "women friendly" carriage on every Tube running from 9pm to closing time seven days a week. A similar scheme would operate on the top 10 most dangerous bus routes, which would carry transport police on late-night journeys. Fantastic, will I as a mere male be allowed a discount as I will not be able to use 100% of the carriages? Why does Brian Paddick not care about men's safety on the tube, just womens? Who are more likely to be victims of violence on the tube, men or women?

The Low Emission Zone (LEZ) operates from today

Another of Ken Livingstone's taxes on productive members of society starts today. From today the owners of Lorries, motor caravans & horseboxes exceeding 12 tonnes that do not meet the LEZ emissions standards and are not exempt from the scheme or registered for a 100 per cent discount will have to pay £200 per day to enter the London area. This is just the start of the scheme; it will extend to buses & coaches exceeding 5 tonnes and to lorries, motor caravans & horseboxes weighing between 3.5 & 12 tonnes on 7 July 2008. A further extension on 4 October 2010 will bring in a £100 a day charge for large vans & horseboxes between 1.205 unladen & 3.5 tonnes as well as Motor caravans between 2.5 & 3.5 tonnes and Minibuses below 5 tonnes.


Of course the above are just the daily charges, the fines for non-compliance are even more onerous, currently £1,000, generously reduced to £500 if paid within 14 days but increased to £1,500 if unpaid within 28 days.



I predict that the car hating Ken Livingstone if re-elected in May will bring in a charge for all of the "most polluting cars" entering the London LEZ. I have blogged before about his plan to drive the private motor car from the roads of London and the LEZ will be another part of this plan.

The wonders of Google searches

One of the last visitors to this blog came by Google searching "lez livingstone wanker", my site is 3rd on the list for that search term. I don't believe those three words have ever appeared in the same article on this blog, maybe I should write one...

Labour Transport Policy

Ruth Kelly, this country's current Transport Secretary, unveiled the Labour Government's long term transport strategy. Blah, blah, blah, fresh wave of consultations, environmentally sustainable transport system for the next generation, blah blah, blah. This is Labour's NINTH major transport strategy since 1997, during which time UK transport has improved out of all recognition - not! "Pay as you drive", "widening of motorways", "active traffic management", "road pricing", "new rail capacity" maybe with high speed 200mph line (often promised, never delivered). "Urban congestion charging backed by investment in public transport", well the former is likelier than the latter.

Apparently a national pay-per-mile scheme for all major roads is currently off the agenda but "intermediate" schemes for tolls on crowded city roads and busy motorways are still planned. So the LEZ cameras may yet have their real purpose unveiled...

Identified Cameras - an update

Previously I have blogged about the cameras appearing on London's main roads and was told that they were Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras, purely there to enforce London's Low Emission Zone (LEZ). I didn't believe that then and I believe it less by the day. They are there to enforce road pricing and others agree, this is an extract from a comment on Iain Dale today - "It's EU policy, look it up. A trans-European lorry charging scheme is already booked in, and should be happening by 2011 if I remember rightly. have you checked those new cameras in the cpaital? My guess is that are not just for the so-called low emission zone, they are also card-readers for the road tolls. The tolling hardware is already laid on most of the motorway hard shoulders in the UK. How do you think they are going to toll Greater Manchester? The same useless 'technology' used in London?"

Road pricing is coming, the Number 10 petitioners will be ignored, we will all pay more...

Emissions Influenced Charging (EIC) in London

Further to my previous post about the Low Emission Zone, it would appear that the Sunday Times had got hold of slightly the wrong end of the stick with regard to Ken Livingstone's proposals. It would appear from the TFL website that the increased charges are only being proposed for using the existing Congestion Charging Zone not the whole LEZ. However, I predict that if Ken gets this increase through then it is only a matter of time before he tries to get some sort of charge for "gas guzzling" "most polluting cars" driving within the whole LEZ.

It should be noted that just eight days after the congestion charge started, on 25 February 2003, Ken Livingstone stated "I can't conceive of any circumstances in the foreseeable future where we would want to change the charge, although perhaps ten years down the line it may be necessary". Of course, by November 2004, Livingstone directly contradicted his earlier stance and said in an interview with BBC London, "I have always said that during this term it will go up to at least £6." Of course, Ken "consistency" Livingstone changed his story again by the end of that month saying in an announcement that in fact the rise would be to £8 for private vehicles; the rise to £8 was announced formally on 1 April 2005. That must be enough rises; don't be daft Ken "I hate cars, if I ever get any power again I'd ban the lot" Livingstone in a live TV debate on 10 May 2006 supported a rise in the charge to £10 by 2008. That would be a doubling of the charge (a 100% increase) in five and a half years.



Oddly enough Ken when the Congestion Charging scheme was originally proposed the £5 charge was predicted not to have to increase. Interestingly when the charge was increased to £8, "The Mayor stated that whilst confirming the proposed increase to £8, it is his intention that there will be no further increases in the congestion charge during this current mayoral term, which runs until May 2008." With the caveat that "The Mayor's Transport Strategy stated that the (congestion) charge (including discounts and exemptions) would be kept under review in order to identify whether any adjustments were needed to maintain the objective of reducing traffic congestion or to respond to changes in circumstances."

Identified Cameras (pt 2) - London's Low Emissions Zone and/or Increase in the Congestion Charge

Ken, Ken, Ken, it would appear that the cameras I queried and then identified here are part of the Low Emissions Zone but that zone will not apply just to HGVs as originally and until recently claimed, it will also according to today's Sunday Times apply to non "low emitting" cars as well. Low emitting cars will pay nothing to enter London, middling emitting cars will be charged £8 a day and high emitting cars £25 a day. As yet there is no definition as to what "entering London" means, but from the location of the cameras that have been reported here and elsewhere I would predict that "entering London" will mean driving on any of the A roads or motorways (inside the M25) that encircle London. So that will be £25 to drive 10 miles around the North Circular every day, a 20 minute drive. The alternative will be to spend over an hour on public transport at £4 or so a day. Full details will be announced this week but the LEZ will be introduced in February 2008.

Back in 1989 I seem to remember Ken Livingstone being quoted as saying something along the lines of: "I hate cars, if I ever get any power again I'd ban the lot". It looks as though this is yet another part of this plan that has so far included the introduction of cycle lanes and changing the phasing of traffic lights in central London to increase congestion so as to "justify" the introduction of the congestion charge zone and then the extension of the zone to Kensington & Chelsea despite a consultation coming out against this. Let's see if Boris can get off his famous cycling posterior and use the introduction of this money grabbing and anti-car measure as part of his campaign for London Mayor.

Puzzlingly the TFL website still describes the LEZ thus "The Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone has confirmed his plans to introduce a Low Emission Zone (LEZ) across London... The aim of the Low Emission Zone (LEZ) is to improve air quality in London by deterring the most polluting vehicles from being driven in the area. The vehicles affected are older diesel-engined lorries, buses, coaches, large vans, minibuses and other heavy vehicles that are derived from lorries and vans such as motor caravans and motorised horse boxes." No mention of cars there... Indeed a footer on this page says "Cars, motorcycles and small vans are not included in the LEZ. " What is the actual truth here? Elsewhere the TFL website says "All roads, including certain motorways within the LEZ boundary are included within the Zone. The M25 motorway is not included in the LEZ even where it passes within the boundary." that fits in with my thoughts above.

This page includes the caveat "There will be a phased introduction of the LEZ from 4 February 2008 through to January 2012...Different vehicles will be affected over time and increasingly tougher emissions standards will apply ...The vehicles affected by the LEZ, the relevant emissions standards and the date on which standards come into effect are outlined in Emissions standards" My bet would be that Ken is about to announce the extension of the scope of the LEZ to include all vehicles, contrary to what the published information stated and still states. We Londoners will be charged for driving on any main road in London. The law of unintended consequences dictates that traffic on roads that don't have the LEZ cameras on will suffer increased traffic and pollution levels.

There is much confusion today about this scheme: will it include the whole LEZ area (virtually everything within the M25) or just the Congestion Charge Area? Will the Congestion Charge Area be extended again? Will Ken get away with yet another tax on the motor car? Will Ken listen to reason? Sorry, that last one has an obvious "No" as the answer.