Tuesday, April 8, 2008

more inspiration

Boris Johnson's surprising early poll ead over Ken Livingstone in the run-up to the London mayoral election next month could be a headache for the makers of this excellent motoring accessory, the KenBuster. This automatic device senses when you stray into the congestion charge zone and pays the relevant charge for you. You might well ask how a device that pays the charge for you constitutes busting anyone, but that would be to forget the nature of the modern bureaucrat who, of course, pefers you not to pay such fees so he can hit you for even more via fines. Acording to the KenBuster people over 25 per cent of Transport for London's income comes from congestion charge fines, with about 4,500 people being stung every day.

So is now a good time to buy a KenBuster? Johnson promises only to "reform" the congestion charge. My guess is that a notional Mayor Johnson (a keen yclist) will steer clear of abolition, especially once he's seen the books. So it's all clear, I suspect, to buy a Ken/BorisBuster. £200 to buy outright, or £50 with a 12-month contract of £8 per month, from www.kenbuster.com.


(From the FT's How to Spend It magazine)

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