London Congestion Charge – from 4th January 2011Return to top

From 4th January 2011, the new London Congestion Charges are:
* £10 if paid in advance or on the day of travel,
* £12 if paid by midnight the charging day after travel,
* £9 if registered for Congestion Charging Auto Pay (see below).

As is the case under the previous scheme, registered residents that live within the Charging zone will continue to receive a 90% discount.

As part of recent changes to the scheme, the Western Extension of the Congestion Charging zone was removed on Christmas Eve last year (2010).

The Alternative Fuel Discount for greener vehicles was also phased out and replaced by the Greener Vehicle Discount - see next section.

A new method of payment, Congestion Charging Auto Pay. has also been introduced. This detects how many days per month a registered vehicle has driven in the Congestion Charge Zone, and then automatically deducts a monthly payment from a specified bank account.

Greener Vehicle Discount – from 4th January 2011Return to top

The London Mayor introduced a 'Greener Vehicle Discount' (GVD) scheme with effect from January 4th, 2011. Under the new scheme, all vehicles that produce low emissions will be rewarded, irrespective of the technology used.

To be eligible for the Greener Vehicle Discount, all models that emit less than or equal to 100 gCO2/km and meet Euro 5 emissions standards will qualify for 100% discount (subject to a £10 annual registration fee).

Under the new scheme, all electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles are also exempt - but 'conventional' hybrids are treated as petrol and diesel vehicles and only qualify for the GVD if their emissions are 100 g/km or less and are Euro 5.

The new scheme is to be monitored and the GVD discount criteria regularly reviewed. The Mayor already has plans for a consultation process in 2012 to assess the potential to lower the exemption threshold to 80 gCO2/km.

Alternative Fuel Discount – until 24 December 2010Return to top

Under the previous London Congestion Charge scheme, an Alternative Fuel Discount was available for the greenest cars. To be eligible the car had be listed on the Energy Saving Trust's PowerShift Register. These included the cleanest LPG and natural gas cars, and all hybrid-electric and battery-electric vehicles.

However, this was replaced by the 'Greener Vehicle Discount' for all cars that emit 100 gCO2/km or less and meet the Euro 5 standard for air quality - see previous section.

Importantly, those who registered a vehicle for the previous Alternative Fuel Discount before December 24th 2010 will continue to receive the full discount until December 24th 2012 as part of a phase-out plan.

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