Furious business owners are fighting for a lifeline as Oxford’s daily congestion charge drives customers away from their shops.
From no later than November 10, drivers visiting Oxford without a resident permit will have to fork out a £5 daily fee if they pass through one of the six charge checkpoints.
And If they forget to pay, they will be slapped with a £70 fine.
The shopkeeper’s of Oxford have noticed a drop in footfall as customers are more reluctant to visit as they struggle to find parking spaces and wish to avoid the hefty congestion charge.
Many said the introduction of low traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) in May 2022 made customers more reluctant to visit – as fears loom the new charge could be the final nail in the coffin.
Yola Brunelli, 54, who has run La Cucina, an Italian restaurant, on St Clement’s Street for nearly 20 years, told The Times: ‘We always have a long list of bookings for a Saturday evening but people give up as they struggle to navigate the traffic measures.’
Oxfordshire county council approved the charge on Wednesday, making it the first UK city in more than 20 years to introduce the mandatory fee since Durham and London did in 2002 and 2003.
The charge is said to be temporary until the planned traffic filters are introduced, but this will not go ahead until Botley Road, a major street, reopens in August 2026.
has spent 32 years running restaurants in Oxford, but said he lost more than £1million and his pension due to councillors who have refused to listen to locals and business owners over the £5 daily congestion charge
Pugh is the father of the Oscar-nominated actress Florence Pugh (left)
From no later than November 10, drivers visiting Oxford without a resident permit will have to fork out a £5 daily fee if they pass through one of the six charge checkpoints
Joining the campaign against the council’s latest traffic rules is Clinton Pugh, the father of the Oscar-nominated actress Florence Pugh.
He has spent 32 years running restaurants in Oxford, but said he lost more than £1million and his pension due to councillors refusinng to listen to locals and business owners.
‘The county council has again completely ignored the concerns of the majority of citizens and businesses from their own survey,’ said Mr Pugh.
A damning 74 per cent of the 7,165 people who responded to the council’s survey said the overall impact of the congestion charge would be negative.
A group of residents, known as Open Roads for Oxford, have said they are committed to bringing ‘immediate legal action’ against the council if it does not U-turn on its plans for the daily charge.
They have engaged with lawyers and are preparing to send a pre-action protocol letter.
Paul Major, a business owner who set up the group said: ‘We are particularly disappointed by the council’s complete lack of engagement with concerns made regarding the implementation and how inconvenient this is going to be for residents and how damaging it stands to be for local trade.
‘We will fight this all the way and this is not over.’
The county council has given residents in Oxford and the wider Oxfordshire area 100 and 25 passes respectively.
