Mayor's office slams Porsche's C-charge legal challenge

Ken Livingstone's office has today hit back at luxury car maker Porsche, which has threatened legal action over recently unveiled plans to increase the congestion charge for the most polluting cars to £25 per day. The mayor's office branded the carmaker's move an "attack on Londoners".

A spokesperson for the mayor said that Porsche's decision to seek a judicial review on the price changes sought to "deprive Londoners of their democratic right to decide, in the Mayoral election on 1 May, whether they want gas guzzling and polluting cars to drive in London – when there is absolutely no need for them to do so."

The spokesperson also accused the carmaker of trying to impose pollution emitted by a tiny minority of drivers on all Londoners. "No one is allowed to throw their rubbish in the street and Porsche should not be allowed to impose gas guzzling, polluting cars on Londoners who do not want them," the spokesperson said.

The comments follow Porsche's announcement this morning that it intends to seek a judicial review of planned changes to London's congestion charge. From 27 October this year, cars emitting more than 225g of CO2 per km will be charged £25 a day to enter the congestion charge zone, while cars emitting less than 120g/km will escape the charge altogether. Porsche said it will write to the mayor this week and that if it does not receive a satisfactory response within 14 days, it will apply to the courts for an order to overturn the new charge.

Andy Goss, Managing Director of Porsche Cars GB, said in a statement that the increase was unjust and disproportionate adding that it would have a very limited impact on CO2 emissions.

It is unclear if any legal action has the potential to delay the introduction of the new charges.

The move from Porsche is the latest in a series of attacks on the scheduled changes, which have somewhat bizarrely seen manufacturers of both heavily polluting vehicles and zero-emissions electric cars criticise the plans.

Electric car firms last week accused the mayor of undermining their emerging sector, claiming that plans to exempt all Band B vehicles with CO2 output of less than 120g/km would remove one of the key selling points for electric cars, which have been exempt from the charge since its introduction in February 2003.

A recent study from the Centre for Economics and Business Research, commissioned by Land Rover, also argued that this year's changes will have little impact on emissions and congestion as any reduction in the number of heavily polluting vehicles entering the zone is likely to be offset by an increase in the number of Band B cars entering the zone without charge.

Report author Mark Pragnell argued there was a case for a tiered charging system that would charge each band different levels based on their emissions and not centre on "disproportionate charges" for the most polluting cars. He added that there was a possibility that charges of £25 a day for SUVs and luxury cars would have little or no impact on drivers' behaviour. "The kind of people who drive these cars can probably afford to pay the charge or even buy an additional Band B car just to avoid the charge," he said.