The Green Party has backed London mayor Sadiq Khan’s demand that Volkswagen Group should pay Transport for London (TfL) compensation of up to £2.5m over the emissions scandal.
In a letter to VW, Mr Khan has demanded that it reimburses TfL for Congestion Charge discount that VW drivers were wrongly given because their cars were claimed to emit less than 100g of CO2 per km and meet the Euro 5 standard.
London mayor Sadiq Khan
In September last year VW accepted they it installed so-called ‘defeat devices’ on some of its diesel vehicles, designed to make the cars look less polluting than they actually were in tests.
Mr Khan said TfL had calculated, based on the number of VW cars in London that were potentially affected, that it has lost around £2.5m in revenue as a result.
He said he also wants VW to properly compensate drivers affected by the scandal and said providing a software-based fix is ‘woefully insufficient’ compared to the compensation and buy-back settlement it agreed with US regulatory authorities for American consumers.
Mr Khan said: ‘There is no excuse for the utter lack of action VW has taken in London since the “dieselgate” scandal came to light. 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 the £2.5m lost in Congestion Charge revenue, which I will use to fund a new schools air quality programme that will reduce the exposure and raise the awareness of school children in London attending schools in the most polluted areas.’
London Assembly Green Party member Caroline Russell said: ‘Volkswagen, along with other car manufacturers, used sophisticated software to deliberately cheat emissions tests so they would not reflect actual emissions in urban conditions.
‘Instead of making feeble excuses for being singled out for the damage they deliberately caused, the cheating car makers should be paying for schemes that clean up our air and reduce emissions such as clean buses, trams and new bike lanes.’
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