15 February 2008
London's new emissions-linked congestion charge will fail in its objectives, eco-friendly motor advisers at Clean Green Cars said yesterday.
Earlier this week, London Mayor Ken Livingstone announced the new levy - which will charge drivers of high-carbon emitting motors £25 for using roads in the city centre.
The threshold of the charge is emissions of 120g/km - too high, according to Clean Green Cars.
Citing figures which show that the market share of cars emitting below the carbon threshold grew by 2% in the past year, the firm claims that the new charge will lead to many more cars using the city centre in future.
As technology develops, more and more new models will be sold as charge-exempt - making overall carbon emissions higher through a rise in vehicle numbers.
Editor of Clean Green Cars Richard Bremner said: "While the principle of encouraging people to use low [carbon] cars is a good one, these rule changes are ill-conceived.
"The 120g/km threshold is too easy for many manufacturers to achieve - we need a tougher target that speeds the arrival of ultra-low emission models - these rule changes provide little incentive.’
Mr Livingstone's emissions-linked charge is the latest of a series of financial concerns currently affecting London's drivers.
High oil prices have led to pump charges exceeding £1 per litre - and recent research from the AA pegged the latest year-on-year car insurance premiums rise at 8%.
© 2008 Adfero Ltd
Content for the uSwitch.com market news service is provided by a third party, Adfero Ltd. Whilst uSwitch.com makes reasonable efforts to check the reliability of this content, uSwitch.com does not guarantee the accuracy thereof or endorse the views or opinions given by Adfero Ltd, unless expressly stated otherwise.