Ken Livingstone, says that he will use the money raised by the charges to improve bus and train services.
If you want to drive in the central zone of London between 7 am and 6.30 pm during a weekday you have to pay a 5 fee. Once you have paid you can go in and out of the centre as many times as you want. But if you drive into the zone and fail to pay before 10 pm you have to pay double the congestion charges. If you have still failed to pay by midnight you will be fined 80. If you ignore the fine three times then special wardens will search for your car, take it away and have it crushed.
How will anyone know you have driven into the zone? There are 800 cameras all over central London, not just on the boundary of the zone, and they take a photograph of your car's number plate. A computer system can recognise the number and will identify you and your address.
Charging to drive into the centre of a city has operated in Singapore since the 1970s and in Norway since the 1990s. But the London scheme is the biggest in the world. Following its success other British cities - including Bristol, Leeds, Birmingham and Edinburgh - are planning their own schemes.
If you really do not want to pay the charge, go 'green'. Cars powered by electricity do not have to pay.