New blitz on capital's red routes

Drivers face a fresh fines blitz on London's hundreds of miles of red routes from Monday.

Mayor Ken Livingstone takes over policing of the red route network from the Met in three days.

The crackdown includes:

Transport for London would not reveal how many tickets it expects to issue, but said motorists who are caught and fail to pay will find a much tougher regime in force.

Currently 200,000 red route fines a year are handed out, a relatively small number. And only 45 per cent of those are ever paid. TfL aims to collect at least three-quarters of fines issued and in its first six months of operation the new regime is projected to generate up to ?4 million.

Jeroen Weimar, TfL's director of transport enforcement, said: "Just one driver blocking a red route can cause major delays for other drivers. TfL's aim is to ease congestion and further improve road safety for all road users."

Edmund King of the RAC Foundation said: " We welcome improved enforcement to keep London moving but we do not want a replica of the councils' parking operation."

Red routes were introduced in 1992 to keep the capital's most important commuter and business routes flowing.

The rules are much stricter than for double yellow lines; no stopping whatever is allowed during their hours of operation.