London mayor Boris Johnson has withdrawn plans for a £25 per day congestion charge on the most polluting vehicles coming into the city, ending a legal battle against the levy by luxury carmaker Porsche.
The proposal to raise the congestion charge for vehicles with the highest carbon dioxide emission from £8 to £25 from October 2008 was put forward by former mayor Ken Livingstone. Under the same proposal, smaller cars would have been exempt from the congestion charge.
In February, Porsche launched a legal challenge against Livingstone's plans, arguing that the charge was unfair.
After dropping plans for the £25 levy late Monday, Johnson was ordered to pay Porsche's legal costs which are expected to amount to a six-figure sum. Porsche said it will give the money to charity.
Johnson, who had pledged to drop the £25 charge during his hotly contested mayoral race against Labours Livingstone, told the BBC the increased congestion charge “would have hit families and small businesses hardest.”
“I believe the proposal would actually have made congestion worse by allowing thousands of small cars in for free,” the Tory mayor added.
Livingstone said it was a “further blow” to London's attempts to help tackle climate change.
