London Congestion Charge

In this lesson, students will have the opportunity to discuss the London Congestion Charge, a new tax designed to reduce the number of cars on the streets of London. While many have welcomed its introduction others are still not convinced that it will help.

Judge for yourself with the image below.

As you can see there has been a drop in the number of cars entering the city, but then, this leads us the to the following questions:

Is having a car an easier way for the government to tax citizens?
Are there already too many taxes on the individual?
Given the increase in buses, has there actually been a reducing in pollution?
Since motorcycle use is up, does this not increase the chance of road traffic accidents?
Are buses cleaner for the roads than cars?

Video discussion

Video questions. Watch the video above and answer the questions below.

How much does it cost to drive into the capital according to the video?
What is the T-Charge?
How many people die each year because of the poor quality air?
The measure applies mainly to what type of vehicles?
What percentage of Londoners live in high pollution areas?

Video Answers:

13 Euros
Toxicity charge
9000 / per year
Petrol and diesel vehicles
Almost 95%

Vox pop worksheet for download

To use this worksheet it would be best to print this and cut along the lines on the worksheet, then give each student one or two comments to read and then to discuss on small groups.