Congestion charge exemption change will hit businesses from July 1

TRANSPORT for London (TfL) has confirmed that exemption from the London Congestion Charge will drop from 100g/km to 75g/km from 1 July 2013 – despite public backlash.

Until now, any car emitting less than 100g/km of CO2 – including the Fiat 500 TwinAir, BMW 116ED EfficientDynamics and Toyota Prius hybrid – were exempt from the London Congestion Charge.

From 1 July, the new Ultra Low Emission Discount (ULED) will come into force, whereby only cars emitting less than 75g/km of CO2 will avoid the daily charge.

The ULED replaces the previous Greener Vehicle Discount (GVD) and the Electric Vehicle Discount.

However, the plans – which were originally proposed towards the end of last year (London Congestion Charge discounts to change next year) do provide a degree of light relief for company car drivers and small business owners whose cars currently emit between 75g/km and 100g/km.

Providing you register your car with TfL before July, you will continue to benefit from Congestion Charge exemption until 24 June 2016. This is a year longer than initially intended, with TfL proposing an exemption period of just two years in its original plans.

TfL is calling this ‘a sunset period’.

This sunset period means that a company car driver driving a qualifying car on a typical lease contract can enjoy the discount throughout their agreement – providing they register the car before the end of June.