C-charge extension moves closer

Ken Livingstone has taken a major step towards expanding the congestion charge zone into west London.

His officials have struck a draft multi-million pound deal with private contractors to operate the new charging cameras and call centre needed to make the zone work.

The deal with Capita, which has a £300 million contract to administer the existing central London zone, is conditional on the extension getting the final go-ahead.

The Mayor has said he wants to double the size of the zone but needs to go through further public consultation. The earliest it could be extended is February, 2007.

The new deal between the Mayor's Transport for London agency and Capita also paves the way for a major rethink in the way drivers are charged to enter central London.

The deal would run until February, 2009 - by which time new satellite technology now undergoing trials with TfL should be ready. This would allow the cameras to be removed and a varying scale of charges to be levied, with motorists paying more to drive on the busiest roads or during peak hours.

It would use a "tag and beacon" system where detectors installed across the main road network track vehicles fitted with unique transponders.

Transport sources indicated that today's tie-in with Capita avoided the potential logistical nightmare of having to employ a different company to administer the western extension.

TfL feared that motorists would have been baffled about which firm to call to pay the levy - set to rise from ?5 to ?8 a day in July this year. And few companies may have bid for the contract if they were required to buy cameras that would be obsolete two years later. Under the draft deal, Capita's existing five-year contract will be extended by a year, meaning it expires in February

2009. In return, it will be ready to run an enlarged zone from February 2007.

The company attracted widespread criticism following the launch of congestion charging in 2003 due to difficulties drivers faced in paying the charge. But its performance is said to have improved markedly after taking on more staff and being offered bonuses if it hit strict new targets.

The western extension would take in Knightsbridge, Kensington and Chelsea. The Mayor's initial consultation there last year saw 63 per cent of residents and 72 per cent of businesses oppose the extension.