London Mayor Sadiq Khan claims that because of the “Dieselgate” scandal, VW now owes his city £2.5 million in missed Congestion Charge payments due.
In a letter sent to the German automaker, Khan asked Volkswagen to “fully compensate” the city of London the previously mentioned sum of £2.5m, on behalf of vehicles claiming a discount they weren’t entitled to.
According to congestion charge guidelines, any car which pollutes below 75g/CO2 and also meets the EU5 standard of air quality is to be exempt from paying the £11.50 Congestion Charge.
Now, while VW’s defeat device resulted in higher nitrogen oxide emissions rather than CO2 emissions, it still failed to comply with said Euro 5 legislation, as reported by Auto Express.
As if VW wasn’t feeling enough pressure already, Mayor Khan stated that he plans on using the £2.5m to fund a new schools air quality program that will raise awareness to the importance of clean air quality among London students.
Out of the 500,000 VW cars estimated to be registered in London, up to 80,000 could contain the defeat device that initially enabled them to cheat their way into an Euro 5 rating during lab tests.
In his letter to VW, Khan wrote: “There is no excuse for the utter lack of action VW has taken in London since the ‘dieselgate’ scandal came to life. I want to see a proper commitment from them to fully compensate the thousands of Londoners who bought VW cars in good faith, but whose diesel engines are now contributing to London’s killer air.”
“I also urge them to reimburse TfL (Transport For London) the £2.5 million lost in Congestion Charge revenue, which I will use to fund a new schools air quality program that will reduce the exposure and raise the awareness of schoolchildren in London attending schools in the most polluted areas.”
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