Samantha Bond (AKA Miss Moneypenny) joins London protests

01-Feb-2003 • Bond News

Motorists in the UK will be soon charged to enter a crowded 8-square-mile area in London, stretching from King`s Cross to Tower Bridge, Vauxhall Bridge (MI6 HQ) to Marble Arch and incorporating the bustling financial district.

London Mayor Ken Livingstone predicts the toll will cut traffic 20 percent, ease jams and raise 130 million pounds (US$208 million) a year for public transit.

A recent poll found that nearly one of every three drivers surveyed voiced readiness to try to evade the toll. Fifty-five percent of the 614 people polled by London radio station LBC said the charge would do nothing to ease congestion and 14 percent predicted it would make gridlock worse.

Actress Samantha Bond, who plays Miss Moneypenny in the Brosnan era Bond films, is a high-profile opponent of the charge and is supporting a group of London workers who are considering a court challenge.

"It will jeopardize the safety of people who travel on an insecure public transport system late at night because of financial constraints, and create a two-tier system dividing those who can afford the charge and those who cannot," Bond says.