As of the 27^th of October many individuals driving into London will be facing some serious changes to the prices they pay for the congestion charge.  Ken Livingstone, the Mayor of London, has proposed that cars be charged in accordance with the amount of carbon dioxide which they emit, meaning that larger vehicles, which may be perceived as more damaging to the environment, will pay an increased rate in order to compensate for the pollution they cause.

The new charging system demands that, though most drivers will still pay the usual £8 road toll, the highest polluting vehicles will be asked for a daily rate of £25 in order to enter the congestion charge zone.  In contrast to this, however, those cars with the lowest carbon dioxide emissions will get a 100% discount on the charge as a reward for being more environmentally sound.

Peter Hendy, London’s transport commissioner has asserted that the new charges are likely to bring in around £30million to £50million.  Furthermore, Transport for London has estimated that around 33, 000 vehicles which come into London every day will fall under the £25 charge and approximates that about two-thirds will no longer choose to enter into the charge zone once the new fee is implemented.

Environmentalist groups such as Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth are strongly on the side of the new congestion charge initiative, hoping that it will encourage people to think more about the long term effects of their transport decisions and buy greener vehicles.  Ken Livingstone has echoed such sentiments, commenting that “the CO2 emissions from the most high-powered 4×4s and sports cars can be up to four times as great as the least polluting cars.

However, not everyone has adopted this point of view as it seems that Mr Livingstone’s vilification of the ‘Chelsea tractor’ type vehicle may be ill founded.  Boris Johnson has spoken out against the charge, suggesting that “in effect, the mayor has just given the green light for richer people to buy smaller cars and enter the zone for free while families who struggle with one big car are left feeling the pinch.”  This has been backed by Autocar’s Dan Stevens who has noted that “some really surprising cars will be caught by the £25 charge”.  For instance, whilst a vehicle such as the Vauxhall Vectra (a hatchback/estate car) will be hit with the maximum fee, some 4×4s, such as the BMW X5 3.0d will only be charged the regular £8 toll.

Porsche is also looking to challenge the new charging system on the basis that they are “disproportionate” and will not help to decrease the emissions in central London.  Having written to the mayor expressing their displeasure, the car manufacturer’s next step will be to apply to the courts for an order to cancel the proposal.  Andy Goss, the Managing Director of Porsche GB has spoken out against the scheme, claiming that “a massive congestion charge increase is quite simply unjust.”