BRITAIN: Up to 10,000 motorists were today facing fines of £80 for failing to pay to drive into central London yesterday, the first day of the congestion charges.
Manual checks are expected to reduce that number but those remaining will receive penalty notices by the end of the week, said London's Mayor Mr Ken Livingstone.
It is unclear how many people deliberately tried to avoid the £5 charge and how many were unable to pay because the call centre and web site were jammed.
A total of 190,000 vehicles crossed into the congestion zone which covers eight square miles of central London. This was a 25 per cent drop in traffic, but some of the fall-off was due to the school half-term holiday in London.
Over 100,000 paid £5 for the day. The zone was also used by around 20,000 fleet vehicles and 45,000 vehicles which were exempt from the charge, such as buses, taxis, emergency vehicles and 100 per cent discount holders. A further 10,000 did not pay.
The unaccounted for vehicles are explained by the fact that the figures are approximate and the 700 cameras scattered around the zone capture about 90 per cent of vehicles and number plates. These are then checked against payment records.
Mr Livingstone described the first day as "the best day in traffic flow we have had in living memory" and suggested it may have sparked government interest in national traffic pricing schemes.
He vowed that non-payers would not force the scheme to be scrapped. "We are not going to allow freeloaders to ride on the back of thousands of law-abiding Londoners." Many of the non-payers had probably hoped that technical glitches would help them evade the fee, he said.
The charge is doubled to £10 if motorists pay between 10 p.m. and midnight of the day they entered the zone. The fine then goes up to £80 or £120 after 28 days.
Three outstanding £120 fines could result in clamping and the car being towed away.
Ms Rebecca Rees, of the AA, described the non-payment figure as "very high" and urged flexibility for those who could prove they tried to pay but could not get through.
Transport for London, the Mayor's transport authority, admitted that arrangements for delivery companies had got off to "a shaky start" with only 450 of the 1,280 registered companies set up with direct debit payments.
Day two of the charge saw "considerably heavier traffic" on the roads bordering the zone but the traffic was still flowing freely, the RAC (Royal Automobile Club) said.