Mayor to review Congestion Charge exemption criteria
Tue 04 August 2009
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London's Mayor Boris Johnson is to review the criteria under which cars are exempt from paying the £8 daily congestion charge in London. Currently, hybrid models are exempt from the charge while some vehicles using conventional techology but producing lower emissions must pay it.
Exemptions apply to electric and hybrid cars, but there are now a number of conventional car models that emit the same or less carbon than the second generation hybrid Toyota Prius, which is exempt.
Since Volvo wrote a letter complaining to the Mayor about the exemptions criteria in June, an 'Emission Equality' campaign has attracted supporters on social networking websites Facebook (see associated link) and Twitter.
The Mayor is reported as saying in a letter to Volvo in June that the exemption to the Congestion Charge was 'introduced to incentivise the take-up of more environmentally friendly vehicles' but that he also recognised that technology has developed considerably since then.
The LowCVP has earlier recommended to the GLA that emissions-based Congestion Charge exemptions should be based on Vehicle Excise Duty bandings.
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