Congestion charge anomaly bordering on the ridiculous

Whether or not London commuters have accepted the congestion charge, it's an ongoing cause for concern for the management of the Travel Inn at Tower Bridge.

The hotel property crosses the congestion charge zone boundary, with its car park located 20 yards inside. This means customers arriving in the afternoon have to pay the £5 daily charge on entering the car park and a further £5 on their way out the next morning.

This is in addition to the £12 they already pay to use the car park.

"The customers are not happy bunnies," said property manager Ron Barber. "It is the same situation with our Euston property. The trouble is, if you take £10 from the room rate, we would be really hard hit."

Duty manager Estella Kabia added that there was a noticeable drop in business when the congestion charge was introduced in February.

"When it first started," she said, "we saw business drop by 10%, and we advised customers to arrive outside the congestion zone times."

The hotel has written to the mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, asking for an exemption, but this has been refused. "Everyone on the edge of the zone would make the same complaint," said a spokeswoman from Transport for London. "The boundary has to be drawn somewhere."

She added that the congestion charge had been successful in reducing the amount of traffic in the capital by 20%.

Source: Caterer & Hotelkeeper magazine, 10 - 16 April 2003