Mayor of London Ken Livingstone has claimed public backing for his controversial £25 congestion charge for vehicles with the highest Co2 emissions.
Speaking as the results of a new IPSOS-MORI poll for Transport for London suggests 61% of Londoners back the plans Mayor Livingstone said: “Luxury car manufacturers such as Porsche should take the hint and put their energy into reducing the carbon emissions of their cars instead of pursuing pointless legal action against this ground breaking policy.”
Asked “how strongly do you support or oppose the decision to introduce a higher Congestion Charge of £25 for drivers using cars in the congestion charge zone in central London that emit the highest levels of carbon dioxide and do more damage to the environment?” 40% say they “strongly support it” with a further 21% saying they “tend to support it”
In a reflection of media focus on the £25 a day charge charge, 86% of Londoners said they were aware of the new charge but only 58% knew of the 100% exemption for drivers of cars in the lowest emission bands.
Telephone interviews were conducted with 1,041 adults aged 16+ across London between 11-12 March 2008. Quotas were set by age, gender, working status, tenure, and ethnicity in line with London’s population profile. At the analysis stage data were weighted by age, gender, working status, ethnicity, tenure, social grade and area (Inner and Outer London).
