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TfL changes rules to stop C-charge 'fleet' scheme
By David Williams, Evening Standard, Motoring Editor
9 May 2005

A scheme preventing motorists from forgetting to pay the congestion charge and being fined is being stamped on by "greedy" transport officials.

Businessman Miguel Camacho discovered a legal loophole that would ensure tolls were automatically paid each time motorists drove into the charging zone.

By joining his website car club - Fivepounds.co.uk - they become part of a fleet officially registered with Transport for London.

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Under TfL rules fleet members have the congestion charge paid for them in monthly blocks by their fleet administrator. TfL officials identify cars entering the zone on CCTV cameras and issue bills - removing the risk of drivers forgetting the toll and facing a £100 fine.

Mr Camacho aimed to pay the toll on behalf of private motorists for a fee of £10 a month.

But days before the official launch today, TfL - which makes 37 per cent of its congestion charge revenue from fines - abruptly notified the club that the rules had changed in an apparent bid to kill off the scheme. Now fleet organisers must produce a V5 "logbook" for each car, virtually doubling their workload.

The official email added that Fivepounds now had to provide insurance certificates for each vehicle to prove they were "insured for business use only".

TfL's move was today met with anger. Edmund King of the RAC Foundation said: "It is totally wrong for TfL to try to stop this."

A Lib-Dem London Assembly transport spokesman said: "TfL should be welcoming this innovative scheme rather than trying to strangle it at birth."

But Mr Camacho and his business partner James Mackie have vowed that the scheme will still go ahead.

Mr Camacho said: "We told TfL what we were doing and had a barrister scrutinise everything to ensure it was legal.

"The scheme is a big advantage to the 6,000 or so motorists fined £100 each day because they forget to pay." However, TfL said its fleet scheme was launched to help business users, not private drivers.

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