Top London shopping districts escape congestion charge

The western extension of London’s congestion charge zone is to be abolished following a public consultation led by Mayor Boris Johnson. The move is expected to be welcomed by retailers such as Harrods and Harvey Nichols, which will be excluded from the zone.

Johnson says that the charge was scrapped because “the majority” of Londoners have said they were against it. It will be removed by 2010 at the earliest.

The public consultation took place over a five week period and over 28, 000 Londoners responded. It found that 67% of individuals and 86% of businesses favoured removing the new extension.

The congestion charge was introduced on February 17 2003 by former Mayor Ken Livingstone. It was then controversially extended to west London in February 2007. The charge was originally £5 and rose to £8 in July 2005.