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Friday, 14 February, 2003, 09:55 GMT
Ken's charge: Can we be won over?
![]() Click on the pictures above to find out what each has to say about the congestion charge, which is being introduced by London Mayor Ken Livingstone. Next week we will go back to our four commuters to find out how they coped after day one of the charge.
For eight years, Roger has made the daily commute by car from his home in Purley Oaks, Croydon, to the south bank of the Thames in central London. It's a journey that takes about 45 minutes in the morning - quicker and easier than if he were to go by train. But Roger says he has no choice anyway because a protein deficiency means he finds it painful to stand for the duration of crowded train journey. Unfortunately, he says, the condition is not enough to earn him a disabled badge, and therefore exemption from the charge.
"I'm very angry. I don't even drive north of the river, where the real congestion is," he says. "I can't afford the charge but neither can I not afford it. "My only alternative is to get a job outside the zone."
But Jamie has mixed feelings. He believes £5 will not be enough to deter drivers who are used to stumping up £25 a day for parking and while it might ease traffic flow in the centre, he predicts gridlock on the zone's perimeter roads. "It could be good for business but Ken Livingstone hasn't done his research," says Jamie, who lives in Welling, Kent.
A cab driver for 12 years, Jamie says he has seen traffic get progressively worse as side streets have been closed. "I don't let it get to me when I'm working - you've got to detach yourself from it. But my customers get stressed out by it. They want you to perform miracles - get across the West End in 10 minutes."
Riding through dense traffic is hard work and he is always on the lookout for careless drivers, especially those on mobile phones - "they can just pull out in front of you". So less traffic will make his life easier and since motorbikes are exempt from the charge, Brian predicts a win-win result. "I think it's a really brave move by Ken Livingstone. Something has to be done. At the moment it only takes one thing to go wrong and the whole core of the city shudders to gridlock," he says.
Also no stranger to public transport, Brian hopes the charge will shake some sense into selfish car drivers "People are afraid of doing something for the common good. They think about themselves too much. Hopefully, this will make them think about others."
"I can't stand being on a train. You're squeezed together with no room to breathe and everyone is coughing their germs into your face," she says. She also has safety fears about travelling alone on the train, especially in the weeks leading up to the Christmas rush, when she doesn't finish work until late. The thought of paying more than £1,000 a year on the congestion charge, on top of the £300 she shells out for parking, horrifies her.
Taking the train isn't an option, she says. She will drive in and pay the charge, but she also expects to spend more time working from home. "Livingstone hasn't even thought it through properly. I can only grit my teeth and hope he won't be destroying our business."
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