Google removes unofficial Congestion Charge payment adverts

The Congestion Charge fee is currently £10

Google is to remove unofficial Congestion Charge payment adverts after advice from Transport from London.

About 1,000 people per day have been paying up to £8 extra for additional services which either do not exist, or are being provided free of charge.

Some of these unofficial sites have also accepted payments from customers when the congestion charge has not been in operation.

TfL advises people to use its official site to pay to avoid being duped.

There have also been a number of cases where unofficial sites have failed to pay the charge on behalf of their customers, resulting in drivers receiving a penalty notice from TfL.

'Exorbitant fees'

TfL's Garrett Emmerson said: "We have taken further action with Google which means the removal of misleading advertisements for congestion charge payments from Google.

"This has radically reduced the number of customers who have fallen victim to exorbitant fees for so-called additional services that either don't exist or are already provided by TfL for free."

Theo Bertram, from Google UK, said: "We have always had a strict set of policies which govern what types of ads appear on Google and when we are notified that an advertiser is breaching those policies, we move swiftly to take action."

The £10 Congestion Charge applies to all vehicles being driven within the zone from 07:00 to 18:00, Monday to Friday, unless they are exempt.