Free Traffic Legal Advice

Just a heads up
The Oxford congestion charge started this week.
The rules are complex as an usual my disclaimler here is that you need to review the OCC websites for the exact terms rules etc and not rely on the broad rough summary below:

By and large is a 7am to 7pm
It applies to cars only. Commercial vehicles are exempt.
No idea about Camper vans......lots of issues for private cars used for commercial purposes and the hoops to go though to register them: business evidence etc.
Resident of the central area are exempt
Residents of the suburbs get 100 permits per year.
Residents of rest of the county get 25 permits per year.
Blue badge holders (having registered their car) are exempt
No idea how it is meant to work when a car owned by a abled bodied resident entitling them to 25 permits is used to give a lift to a blue badge holder into the city which should be an exempt trip.
Once you have gone though the camera once and used up a permit you can go back and fro any number of times without any additional permit used up... but see below for complications.
If you are not entitled to some form of exemption for the day then its £5.

All of this produces some strange anomolies.
If you have two cars of which you are the keeper then you can register both to have your 25 permits. If however you re-register the DVLA keeper of your second car as another member of the houshold then you can get 25 permits for each car: so your household now has a total of 50 permits. There is a limit to how many cars per household that can be regstered.
If you have two cars registered to you and use one in the morning to drive in that is one permits used up.  If you use it again in the afternoon that is still covered by your permit usage from the morning.  BUT if you use your other car in the afternoon then that is another seperate permit used up.

So far I gather OCC has registered around 50K cars/permits so far.  You need to supply personal/address ID and copies of the vehicle V5 registered at your address to prove you are the keeper and hence your entitlement if applicable to a permit at either the exempt, 100 permits, 25 permit level.

Natural progression in stages
First we get the LTN's where rat runs are closed to through traffic forcing everything onto other roads making them now clogged up all day.
We are now at the next stage of trying to force a reduction in the traffic levels through "fines".

As you say it getting out of hand. Those living in a LTN road are generally delighted as traffic has dropped to near zero, while those on the other roads are furious. Meanwhile builders and indeed myself on one occassion no longer bother and simply park illegally and get the fine and add it to the bill: which in itself suggests that the fines are too low if it becomes simply another cost of doing business. All this quite apart from the cost of parking legally in the first place if you can find a place.

The stated objective of this congestion charge is to stop people driving across the city so you can avoid it by driving out to the ring road, round that and then back in to where you want to go, so its not a true 'ring of steel'. At a cost of course of added congestion on the ring roads. 

How it all work out depends on how many permits the locals use up and how much they want the convience of afterwards simply paying £5 vs that of having to drive out, round and back again, vs the obvious one of not bothering and staying at home instead.

The council are at the same time making all the park and rides - or rather the Ride bit free with a valid park part ticket. Previously you both paid to park and paid to take the bus in.