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It seems odd, as Iain Duncan Smith, the Tory party leader, pointed out this week, that Prime Minister Tony Blair of Great Britain, a man with a view on everything, is the only man in London with no opinion on the congestion charge. If the charge cuts traffic delays in London--and thereby allows the government to get some way towards its over-ambitious target of reducing congestion by 6% by the end of the decade--ministers will be quick to take the credit for introducing the legislation which allowed it to be brought in. Some in the Labor Party long for it to fail. The plan's sponsor, Mayor Ken Livingstone, always on the far left of the party, was thrown out of it because he insisted, against the prime minister's wishes, on standing as mayor of London. The minister for transport, John Spellar, has never hidden his dislike of congestion charging. But until now, it has not been known that he has actively sought to undermine the scheme. Blair eventually got so fed up with these antics, which were directly contrary to government policy, that he told the then transport secretary, Stephen Byers, to put a stop to them.

This article reveals that the experimental Zero-tolerance enforcement at London's 'yellow-box' junctions has cut congestion at 11 of 15 sites in the trial. Transport for London (TfL) reports that congestion at the other four sites remained unchanged or deteriorated. The trial at those junctions has been suspended while TfL decides what to do next. In cases where the trial has failed, TfL could redesign the boxes or even remove them completely.