Our ref: FOI-1071-2021/GH

Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 11 September 2020 asking for information about Congestion Charging.

Your request has been considered under the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and our information access policy. I can confirm that we do hold the information you require. You asked:

I wish to ask how many motorists have been caught out by the change to a 7 day congestion charge in London which I have just found out having paid my penalty fare changed on the 22nd of June. Not being a London resident has resulted in no communication being visible about this change to those that live outside of the capital.

I would like the data to be broken down for the months of July and August and to detail which of those that have been issued a penalty notice live outside of the Greater London area. This should provide sufficient information to understand what comms if any, made it outside of London to inform motorists of the change to the charging.

Following the suspension of the Congestion Charge the scheme was reintroduced on 18 May 2020. As part of Transport for London’s emergency measures in response to the Coronavirus pandemic we were asked to bring forward a temporary expansion of Central London’s Congestion Charging hours and this was introduced on 22 June 2020.

Prior to the changes being implemented we issued a press release advising of the changes on 16 June and this was picked up by an extensive range of media titles across print and online as listed below, some of which are national channels. These are listed in the table below:

All road signage was updated on the boundary and the approach to the zone to inform drivers of the changes in the hours of operation prior to the change coming into force.

In advance and after the temporary changes to the Congestion Charge were implemented on 22 June, TfL implemented an information campaign to raise awareness and inform drivers of the changes. The communications channels selected were used on the basis of the most cost effective way to reach as many drivers as possible rather than focussing on specific regions outside London.  Advertising ran on 13 radio stations, (Smooth, Absolute, Kiss, Capital, LBC, Heart, LBC News, Jazz, Classic, Radio X, Magic, Gold, Capital XTRA), 643 roadside posters, newspaper adverts in the Evening Standard, information on the Metro travel page and a notice in the London Gazette as well as detailed information on the TfL website. We sent over 395k emails to customers registered with Congestion Charging, emails to over 1 million registered Oyster card users and we also included information in the weekend travel email that reaches c. 2 million customers. Our Congestion Charge automated telephone system also provided information on the temporary charge increase before it was implemented.

Whilst we plan our radio airtime to reach London drivers, the airtime also reaches a radius of c. 25-30 mile from central London to outside London subject to the terrain around London.  A map showing the total service area (shaded in brown) for the radio stations is attached. All road signage was updated on the boundary and the approach to the zone to inform drivers of the changes in the hours of operation the weekend before the change came into force.

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