Until February 25, 2005, the City of Edinburgh in Scotland, United Kingdom, had advanced plans for a congestion charging scheme. However, these plans were abandoned because of public acceptability problems and in particular to a referendum on the issue. The origins of the scheme in transport plans for the Edinburgh region since 1992 are explained; the nature of the planned scheme, its extent, charging technology, and predicted effect are outlined. Some evidence is presented on how and why people voted as they did in the referendum, including their attitudes to and understanding of the proposed scheme and its promoters. From these two perspectives, it is then postulated how the scheme could have been made more acceptable.