After refusing to pay the £2.5 million compensation in the dieselgate scandal, London Mayor Sadiq Khan accused Volkswagen of showing “utter contempt” for Londoners.
The London mayor wrote to the car manufacturer to reimburse Londoners and Transport for London that was lost in congestion due to the “defeat devices” but VW has refused.
“I am disappointed by the utter contempt VW has shown for Londoners,” said the London Mayor. “Their appalling lack of action since the ‘dieselgate’ scandal came to light must not be allowed to continue.”
“Unfortunately VW made it abundantly clear that they have no interest or intention of reimbursing Londoners or indeed any UK customers who bought these polluting vehicles. They are also in denial over their responsibility to help clean up London’s filthy air and mitigate the damage their cars have caused.”
“I am determined to stand up for those Londoners forced to breathe filthy air and who have been wholly misled by VW.”
Despite this refusal, VW has paid billions of dollars compensation in the US after they admitted that around 11 million cars worldwide were fitted with “defeat devices”.
A spokesperson for the car company said that all of its vehicles which benefitted from the congestion charge greener vehicle discount “did so validly throughout the relevant period”.
There is “no basis on which it can be said that Transport for London has lost any sums as a result of the NOx issue.” they added.
“No sums are therefore due in compensation,”
It has been two years since the scandal when Volkswagen had been found cheating in emission tests by making its cars appear much less polluting than they actually were.
The US Environmental Protection Agency found 482,000 VW diesel cars in the US were emitting up to 40 times more toxic fumes than is legally permitted. VW has since admitted the cheat affects 11 million cars across the world.