The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has called for Volkswagen to pay £2.5m for Congestion Charge payments not paid by drivers of models that cheated emissions tests.
Following the VW emissions scandal last year, where some Volkswagen, Audi, Seat and Skoda models were found to contain “defeat devices” – which caused them to recognise when they were being emissions tested and artificially lower emissions levels – Khan has claimed that 80,000 affected models were registered in the capital.
Transport for London has calculated that £2.5m has been lost from motorists whose vehicles feature defeat devices claiming a Congestion Charge discount that their car is not eligible for, when considering actual emissions.
Khan said: “Londoners, in good faith, bought these vehicles. They weren’t clean. We’ve lost revenues from the Congestion Charge; they’ve got a case to answer,” reports the BBC.
In response to the mayor’s demand, Volkswagen told the Sunday Times: “Volkswagen products perform well in independent real-world emissions testing against new cars in general.
“It is therefore difficult to understand why our products might be singled out for pollution penalties”.
Models affected include the Volkswagen Golf and Polo, the Audi A3, Skoda Fabia and Octavia plus Seat’s Ibiza and Leon.
