Editing London congestion charge (section)

=== 2004 election campaign ===
In February, shortly before the [[2004 London mayoral election|June 2004 mayoral election]] TfL issued a consultation document on the expansion of the zone to the west that would cover the rest (western portion) of Westminster and the [[Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea]].<ref name="tfl20040216">{{Cite press release |url=http://www.tfl.gov.uk/static/corporate/media/newscentre/archive/4375.html |title=Londoners views sought on c-charge western extension |date=16 February 2004 |publisher=[[Transport for London]] |access-date=6 January 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120816205913/http://www.tfl.gov.uk/static/corporate/media/newscentre/archive/4375.html |archive-date=16 August 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The proposed extension was to cover around 230,000 residents, compared with the 150,000 in the original zone.<ref name="westprotest">{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/3779091.stm |title=Protest over congestion charging |date=5 June 2004 |work=BBC News   |access-date=23 November 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150418193219/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/3779091.stm |archive-date=18 April 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Steven Norris]], the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]] candidate for mayor in 2004, has been a fierce critic of the charge, branding it the "Kengestion charge" (a blend of ''Ken'' Livingstone and Con''gestion''). A few days before the scheme came into operation, he wrote in a BBC report that it had been "shambolically organised", that the public transport network had insufficient spare capacity to cater for travellers deterred from using their cars in the area by the charge. Further, he said that the scheme would affect poorer sections of society more than the rich, with the daily charge being the same for all, regardless of vehicle size.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2752211.stm |first=Steve |last=Norris |title=Why Ken's charge will do damage for years to come |work=BBC News |date=12 February 2003 |access-date=27 May 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150418193524/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/2752211.stm |archive-date=18 April 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref> He pledged to scrap it if he became mayor in June 2004 and said he would grant an amnesty to anyone with an outstanding fine for non-payment of the charge.

The [[Liberal Democrats (UK)|Liberal Democrat]] candidate, [[Simon Hughes]], however, supported the basic principles of the scheme. Amongst some of the changes he proposed were changing the end time from 6:30{{nbsp}}pm to 5:00{{nbsp}}pm and automatically giving all vehicles five free days each year so as not to affect occasional visitors.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/3542235.stm |title=Hughes will stop road toll at 5pm |work=BBC News |date=8 March 2004 |access-date=26 May 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150418193649/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/3542235.stm |archive-date=18 April 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref>