Today, Porsche officially applied for a judicial review challenging London Mayor Ken Livingstone’s congestion charge by issuing its case in the High Court of Justice. In a nutshell, London’s Mayor plans to raise the congestion charge from £8.00 (about $16 USD) a day to £25.00 (approx $50 USD) for a wide range of vehicles from October, and remove the discount for residents. The new rules affect several Porsche models and a wide range of high-performance cars but they also have an effect on many larger family cars, like larger minivans /MPVs and SUVs. The German carmaker filed its challenge in the High Court of Justice Queen’s Bench Division Administrative Court seeking to invalidate the mayor’s new charge on the grounds that it is both a disproportionate and illegal. Porsche has asked the court to expedite the judicial proceedings given the short time-frame in which the new charge is scheduled to be imposed. -Continued
Commenting on the filing, Andy Goss, Managing Director of Porsche Cars GB, said, “Not only is this new tax on motorists unfair, it is also a disproportionate and illegal use of power by the mayor. The Porsche case is about protecting London and Londoners from a new tax that will not only fail to reduce CO2 emissions in central London, but also increase congestion and damage air quality.”