The mayor of London is planning to let popular small cars such as the Fiat Panda, Ford Fiesta and Renault Clio have exemption from paying London’s congestion charge as of February 2008. Currently, the only cars exempt from the congestion charge are those that are electric, run on biofuel or are hybrid cars.

However, many people have campaigned for smaller cars to be given exemption, particularly ‘normal’ cars such as the Bluemotion Polo actually emit less carbon emissions that the ‘green’ hybrid Toyota Prius. As of next Autumn, the mayor is also planning to charge £25 per day for cars to enter the congestion zone.

However the Green party are concerned about the Mayor’s plans saying that the sales of low-emissions cars are growing faster than the Mayor thinks, meaning that the number of cars the qualify for the discount may be higher than originally estimated. In the first nine months of 2007, Band A and B vehicle sales (vehicles emitting less than 120g of carbon dioxide per kilometer) in the UK jumped by nearly a third.

For those who travel into the centre of London on a regular basis, by switching to a ‘greener’ car, they may save up to £2,000 a year on congestion charge fees.

The Green Party are claiming that the increase in these lower polluting cars could in fact cause more pollution as well as increase congestion and accident rates – instead of buying a gas guzzling cars, Londoners may switch to a Band A or B car, make more journeys and therefore increase greenhouse gas emissions. Instead, they think that these greener cars should still be made to pay – and ensure that the fee that they pay is higher than the cost of a tube ticket to encourage users onto London’s (overcrowded) public transport system.

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