hedgehog

I'm sure some of you saw this yesterday but there is going to be a £20 toll to drive to Heathrow. Note that there is no implication that you will not also have to pay the £1.34 per mile road toll as well, oh and you will also have to pay the £8 Kengestion charge if you go to central London. So, there goes the idea that once the road tolls arrive the motorist will not have to pay any other charges. It would seem the Heathrow charge is a "pollution charge" but clearly it is in the power of councils and government to introduce a range of random charges in any area. You could, perhaps, entertain yourself by considering the full range of politically correct charges they might dream up. Of course Subaru drivers, with our low MPG will, it implies, be totally banned from going into the area. Be sure to add your support the next time you see someone demanding the banning of large 4X4s. Enjoy:

The Sunday Times
September 25, 2005

Drivers face £20 toll to reach Heathrow (or drive on the M4 near Heathrow*)

Dipesh Gadher, Transport Correspondent

MOTORISTS travelling to and from London on the M4 face a toll of up to £20 under plans being considered by the Department for Transport to cut pollution around Heathrow airport.

The charge, which could start at £5 to £10 in 2008, would be the first mandatory levy on drivers using Britain's motorway network. It would rise to about £20 in 2015 to ensure that stringent European emissions targets are met, clearing one of the hurdles for the construction of a third runway at Heathrow.

The proposals are outlined in an internal memo drawn up by transport department officials and published under the Freedom of Information Act.
If approved, the charge will affect up to 150,000 motorists who use the
M4 each day to enter and leave London. The fee would be imposed on top of the capital's £8 congestion charge.

The toll could be enforced by cameras similar to those already used in central London or satellite-based tracking devices.
Higher charges could
be levied at peak times, while the most polluting vehicles might be banned altogether, according to the document.

Account deleted by request

cue unclebuck and some labour rant

T4molie

So they're gonna try and cut the amount of cars in that area so that they can er get more planes in and out of there?

Freak

You couldnt make it up
What a total joke!

'New labour-shafting 'Great' Britain into the 21st century and beyond '

Chris L

Absolute genius isn't it?

What happens when they complete T5 and then build T6, 7 & 8 (all planned BTW)?

SJ_Skyline

I would have thought that a charge of £50 would be in order by then!

InvisibleMan

paying a toll even if you have an airport carpark ticket on display, i dont think so. Will it be the end of having friends or family dropping or picking you up if theres a toll. Maybe thats the reason, as its chaos around there.

T4molie

Why not make it a nice round £100?

SJ_Skyline

Good thinking that man!

The tax.. sorry, "windfall" could be spent on "good causes" like Tony's pension

GC8

Surely the clue is in the tag-line? "...to cut pollution around Heathrow airport..." You could pedestrianise the M4 and the M25 and the area around Heathrow would still have ****-poor air quality for f*ck's sake!


Simon

FlightMan

T7 & T8 planned? Rubbish.

Leslie

They really are taking the **** now!

Les

FlightMan

The vast majority of air pollution around LHR is from vehicles. If you've seen the maps I have, the main hotspots are around the major roads.

Chris L

It's not rubbish We've got guys working on the T5 project at the moment, who've already seen stuff for T6 and there is perliminary planning for 7 & 8!

Chris

InvisibleMan

maybe theyll flatten slough to fit in T7&8 which would be good

Dracoro

Just flattening Slough will do

SWRTWannabe

Maybe a congestion charge should be payable by the architects who designed the place without considering the impact on the traffic. More terminals means more traffic and at some point you are going to exceed the capacty of the road, ergo it needs to be upgraded.

rik-1

Oi! I live in near Slough...
















Yeah OK, Let's flatten Slough.

Adrian F

Why not tax all flights by a £50 per person per landing/take off? Flying is more damaging to the environment and much of it is pleasure e.g. holidays and not essential like going to work.

In this country it is cheaper to fly to scotland than get the train (with massive subs from the Tax payers) or drive. mad world.

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Another excuse not to use Heathrow.

It's only as busy as it is because none of the other aiports or operators are arsed enough to shift their traffic elsewhere and tie them in with connnecting flights (or lack of financial incentives more likely ).

These days when I fly out of HR I always book a private lounge...I can't deal with the chaos amongst the public lounges.

FlightMan

Sorry Chris, but if that was the case, I would have seen them. Its my dept that deals with that sort of thing. If Heathrow gets R3, then sure, we have to have a
T6 to service that runway. As the Govt has said where R3 would go, if we get it, then sure, there have to be plans for a site for a potential T6. Thats not the case with T7/8.

^Qwerty^

Wonder how many cars you would need to remove from the road to compensate for the CO2 that ones of those new Trent engines on the A380 throws out.....

dpb

Every cloud......

mart360

and like the dome before it, Nl are apparrantly going to make areas of london no go to cars for the olympics...

billy no mates obviously hates cars....

cant wait to see him on his bike, how many people would knock him off...

M

unclebuck

Your joking. They've hardly started.

Vegescoob

Meanwhile in China, India and the rest of that region, modern infrastructure will continue to be built to further improve their competitive advantage.
Still, never mind, NL knows best.

r32

There wont be any need for extra runways at Heathrow, all the travellers will go elsewhere ........... I certainly will.