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Opinion still split over Congestion Charge

26th March 2008 Print
Congestion Charging in London caused many objections on its introduction in February 2003, but it seems that as time has passed, more and more people have come to accept it with 44% of people affected by it now in favour of it.

Car insurance specialist Admiral asked over 500 people living in London and the South East for their opinions on the Congestion Charge and the results reveal they are split, with 55% against it and 44% in favour of it. A similar split appears again when looking at whether it's stopped people using their cars as 53% of those surveyed say that it has compared to 47% who say it hasn't.

Admiral managing director, Sue Longthorn said, "It's interesting to see that only slightly more people are against the Charge than for it as you'd imagine the negative feeling towards it to be much higher.

"One thing that won't make Ken Livingstone happy is that only 53% of people say it's made them use their car less, as the aim of the Charge is to reduce congestion by encouraging people to choose other forms of transport."

Admiral has decided to lighten the burden of paying the Congestion Charge by teaming up with London's LBC Radio to pay someone's Congestion Charge for a year. All people need to do is listen to Nick Ferrari at breakfast this Friday for their chance to win. They can also visit lbc.co.uk for more information.

According to Admiral's research, the Congestion Charge isn't impacting on people's lives so much that they would consider moving house to avoid it. 66% said they would not consider relocating to escape charges compared to just 34% who would. Looking outside of London, 63% of motorists think that other large towns and cities shouldn't introduce it compared to 37% who think they should.

Sue continued, "Other towns and cities across the UK have mentioned possibly bringing in congestion charging of their own, but the advice to people living in these areas from London and the South East seems to be that it shouldn't be introduced, but if it is, you can come to accept it."