Worry over level of congestion payments

The number of motorists paying London's congestion charge has fallen substantially short of expectations, Transport for London admitted yesterday, following an embarrassing statistical blunder.

In a revised set of figures, the authority revealed that just 87,000 drivers had paid the £5-a-day charge on Monday, compared with an earlier estimate of 100,000. TfL made the "clarification" after discovering its initial figures had wrongly included advance payments for future days.

A further 92,000 paid the charge on Tuesday and by 4pm yesterday, 75,000 had paid. The numbers are sharply below TfL's forecast that at least 100,000 drivers would pay each day.

An insider admitted that payments were "definitely lower" than expected, suggesting the charge was having a more dramatic impact on Londoners' travel patterns than anyone had predicted.

The shortfall could mean a budget gap for the mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, who had expected to raise £130m a year from the charge.

Some of the deficit could be made up by fines. On the first two days, TfL's cameras caught 15,183 people driving in the zone without paying. Each motorist will get an £80 penalty notice by the end of the week.

Derek Turner, TfL's managing director for street management, insisted last night that he was happy with progress. But he admitted there had been "minor teething problems" on some payment channels.

Traffic in central London remained much quieter than usual yesterday, although the RAC reported minor build-ups around the boundary.

The impact of the policy has displeased some retailers. Figures from FootFall, a retail research company, suggested shoppers in central London fell by 12.5% on Tuesday compared with the same day last year.

Piers Merchant, campaigns director for the London Chamber of Commerce, said: "It is too early to make a considered judgment but if this trend were to continue, it would be a serious problem."

Restaurants have also reported lower takings. However, some other retailers said they were unaffected. A Transport for London spokesman suggested any downturn was more to do with security fears than with congestion charging.

· A fresh safety scare blew up on London Underground last night after it emerged that bolts needed tightening on trains within hours of their being restored to service after having their motors checked following last month's Chancery Lane accident.

LU said a "handful" of bolts on Waterloo and City Line trains needed tightening and announced that an urgent review was being carried out on inspection procedures.