oh great... lets tax evrybody!!!!! then only the rich will use their cars.

wake up.

congestion charging is just like fule tax, stops evrybody but the rich.

Make the congestion charge double, if not triple in the case of those poncy 4x4s and sports cars which guzzle up fuel and belch out pollutants and greenhouse gases like there is no tomorrow, and, to keep the class war advocated happy, are also likely to be owned by people on higher than average incomes.

In most cases it would probably just get people to switch to ordinary, more economical cars, but it's a start.

I'm all for extending the congestion charge but a better option would be simply to ban these vehicles entirely except for essential ones. The charge might discriminate against poorer people but a poor person's car (all else being equal) does as much damage as a rich person's one. Assuming the pollution problem needs to be solved at all (I'd say it does) and you're not going to ban the things outright, what else can you do?

Likewise I don't agree with penalising drivers of 4x4s and bigger cars. The amount of pollution depends on many factors such as how far you drive, not just the size of your engine. 4x4s are unsafe in other ways, fine, so regulate or ban them where necessary. Don't get into a silly game where you just make "ordinary" car drivers feel self-righteous because they're not doing as much damage as their richer/bigger/stupider neighbours.

I'm sure some people enjoy the idea of a class war but I'm more interested in protecting people and the environment.

Only I would rather back realisitic initiaves rather than pie in the sky.

OK maybe engine size and miles to the gallon isn't everything, but we try and force people to go for more economical cars, it would mean less fossil fuels being used, and hence less greenhouse gases being discharged into the atmosphere.

I am all for people using public transport instead of the car, but that isn't going to happen when the roads are clogged up and the railways are a mess...