Avis Rent a Car failed to tell us and it was not prominent enough in the Rick Steves book that if you have a car in London during the day weekdays in London you will get a ticket for driving. We dropped off our rental car a day early which brought us into London Friday at 1500 hours. We dropped off the car at about 1800 hours. No one told us that we needed to pay the 10 pound driving fee before midnight of the next business night since we had been in London between 0600 and 1700 hours. Now I have a $212 ticket from the Transportation of London 'courts' They mailed the ticket after getting my information from Avis for another $60 fee from Avis. It took over two weeks for the mail to get to me or the ticket would have been only $101.
I could have paid the fee if I had known but this is not emphasized enough that London is a car drivers nightmare and no one tells you including the rental car company that you have a fee to pay. They have stickers all over the damn car to not pay the Toll on some road, but a sticker to tell you that you have a 10 pound daily fee if you do drive in London, nah just get a cool $100 to $200 from us once we are home.
Posted by
Knoxville, TN, USA
7209 posts
In fact driving in ANY major city (especially tourist-riddled cities) will more than likely get you zapped for a ticket. I don't know how you could possibly have no knowledge of this.
When you drive it's your responsibility to know the rules of the road and the city...and if you can't or won't follow the rules then take the train.
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
33837 posts
How in the world could you possibly have missed the huge and frequent signs and pavement markings leading up to every entrance to the Congestion Zone?
The signs are really really big.
3 hours driving around central London on a Friday afternoon is something you couldn't pay me enough money to do. I only ever drive into London on a weekend, I know where I will park (free) and I know exactly where I am going.
I only ever drive if it is early enough that the trains won't be started, or if I have to collect a large package.
I'm sorry you didn't become familiar with the rules of the road before you started your trip.
Posted by
OP
2 posts
I was pretty focused on trying to find where to turn. My wife had the GPS instructions on her phone and all I wanted to do was get that damn car to the agency so I would not have to drive. That was my sole focus and I did miss the signs when entering the congestion zone, but would have paid it had I known. I think the fact it took more than two weeks to get the notice from the time it was mailed that raised the fee from 100 to 200 is the most annoying part, not the driving for sure.