Family cars branded 'gas-guzzlers' will be charged £25 a day to enter central
London's rapidly expanding congestion zone, Mayor Ken Livingstone announced.
The proposed hike is a five-fold increase from the original £5 charge levied
across the board on all cars, subsequently increased to £8.
Mr Livingstone has already signalled he wants to raise the standard charge to
£10, but drivers in larger family cars will be hit with a much higher bill.
The £25 a day charge - planned from 2009 - is the latest offensive in
controversial Mayor Livingstone's war on urban off-roaders, dubbed 'Chelsea
Tractors', and other large 'gas-guzzling' cars ranging from luxury Jaguars and
sporty Porsches to larger limousines.
But parents with large family cars and 'people movers' will also be affected by
the policy, which the AA Motoring Trust said was hitting hard-pressed motorists
with 'yet another layer of punitive environmental ...