£35.50 to take a car into London 😲

Do you understand how big ULEZ is? Or how busy the CC zone still is?
Where are all these quiet roads acting as millionaire playgrounds? 🙄

This is true. Just now I looked out at the South Circular and it is entirely empty apart from your brother in law, driving slowly down the middle of the road in his diamond encrusted Jag whilst we povvos stand at the bus stop bowing our heads in respect for his immense wealth.

Here's a thing .

My millionaire brother in law loves all these charges because it makes the roads so much quieter for rich people

The most bonkers thing is that it won't actually cost them anything anyway, because no one in their right mind would drive through Central London in order to get to one of the long-haul airports. They'd go around the M25.

Wait until she finds out that river crossings in the arse end of nowhere might charge a toll too!
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penmaenpool

This already happens. I live in central London and the majority of tradesmen now add the FULL ULEZ charge to each customer's bill. So if they have more than one customer per day, they're actually profiting from it. Prices were already expensive but now it really is daylight robbery.

I was an Area Sales Manager (aka rep) back in the late 70s and my area included anything south of the river in London. Even back then I thought it was nuts to try to drive and park in London, so I used to dump the car near an outer tube station (that was free and relatively easy back in those days) and catch the tube. Then to get about London itself, it was either tube or taxis. And, as far as I am concerned that is still a sane decision, with these days the added advantage of being less polluting.

Yes, this.

I have driven to those airports from my home in a London suburb, but I've never driven through central London as that would be utter madness.

If you're going from south London to west London presumably you'd be missing both the congestion charging zone and the Blackwall/Silvertown tunnels? So all you'd have to worry about is the ULEZ charge and only that if you've got an old banger of a car?

From where one of my friends lives it's a monstrous pain in the arse to get to Gatwick by public transport as she has to get a bus into Coventry, then a train train to Marylebone station, then a tube, then another train to Gatwick. Takes 3-4 hours.

But I'm not sure how it can be arranged so that anyone, anywhere in the British Isles, can get to Gatwick by public transport at any time of the day or night without having to change and in under 30min.

I used to drive from S London to W London (in my very small car). It was 16 miles to work and took 90 mins by car, sometimes less. It was 90 mins by public transport too IF everything went to plan, which was maybe one day a week. If it didn't go to plan it could be 3 hours, due to missed connections and infrequent train services. It was two trains and 13 stops on the rammed tube, or three trains, a bus and 40 minutes walk. I didn't have 5 hours a day to spend commuting. This is why people drive. Not all of 'London' is well connected by public transport yet drivers are being punished for this.

Not from where I live! Even at a sensible hour it’s 3 different trains a bus and a mile walk for me to get home from Gatwick. Great fun with luggage!

I agree, cities need to change how they operate, free/cheaper public transport and more bike lanes

Anything that stops people from driving unnecessarily in London is a good thing IMO. The air quality is often appalling and the options for public transport are excellent. London is one of the few places in the country where you really don't need a car, but the charges need to high enough to deter the many people who'd just rather drive and clog up the roads.

The standard for ULEZ diesel is Euro VI. If you are driving a HGV that isn't meeting this standard, it's the LEZ charge you would be most worried about not the ULEZ.

The LEZ charge is £100 a day for commercial vehicles over 3.5 tonnes, which your HGV would be.

This! It’s absolutely nuts.
How dare Londoners get better air quality than they currently have. What about all the poor people driving into central london to work in a shop and pay ULEZ and the CC charge every day?! 😂

I am astounded how many people who aren't living in London begrudge efforts to give Londoners better quality air, just because it will occasionally cost them a few extra quid when they wish to get to an airport or have a day out.

It's most as if most of the people complaining about the CC and ULEZ in London don't live in London or have very little knowledge of it.

What a surprise.

My heart bleeds. From Romford you've got five international airports within 50 miles. You've got trains, busses, coaches, night-busses and taxis. You're three miles away from your nearest tube station. And you're complaining that if you need to get to Gatwick in the middle of the night you've only got three or four options to choose between.

Try living outside the M25, or even outside the south east, and see what your options are for getting to Gatwick then.

Yes, the young gardener who does our communal areas (outer SW London) had to buy a newer van for all his kit, and his charges went up. Couldn’t honestly blame him.

If you lived in Romford, why would you drive through Central London to get to Heathrow? Obviously bollocks.

Not all flights leave at anti social hours indeed most don't.

It is perfectly possible to get public transport to Gatwick and Heathrow from many places, including Romford.

You do not need to drive through Central London to get to either Gatwick or Heathrow.

Stanstead Airport exists.

Because flights go from Heathrow and Gatwick? Tell me where else I should catch them then? I'm talking long haul not a hop to Europe

And I'd rather be able to get public transport than drive tbh. Airport parking costs a small fortune

🤷‍♀️ if you live in Essex why do you need to drive through London to get to Gatwick?

Or even use Gatwick at all?