# Porche and the £25 Congestion Charge



## mickle (9 Jul 2008)

Received this morning;

PORSCHE UPDATE ON JUDICIAL REVIEW PROCESS

July 2008

Legal campaign update -
Porsche wins victory in congestion charge challenge

Thank you very much for your support as we challenged
Mayor Livingstone's proposed £25 congestion charge in London.
As you saw for yourself, the congestion charge was a major issue
in the mayoral campaign and the candidate who opposed this
extension, Boris Johnson, was elected Mayor. 

I am pleased to inform you that, today, the Administrative Court
in London has approved a consent order quashing the increase to
the charge. The new Mayor's legal team accepted that the
previous Mayoral administration should have taken into account
research from King's College which showed that the new charge
would actually increase CO2 emissions in Greater London and,
consequently that the new charge could, in fact, be unlawful.

Porsche has always been confident that the legal case was right
and now we are proud to have played a decisive role in striking
down such a blatantly political tax targeting motorists.

It is expected that significant legal costs will be awarded and
Porsche has decided to donate those costs to a fantastic charity
called Skidz, which takes at-risk young people and trains them in
motor vehicle maintenance and mechanics. This gives them the
tools and confidence they need to find gainful employment and
avoid a life of crime. 

The support from Porsche will allow Skidz to open a facility in
Hillingdon, providing this opportunity to young Londoners for
the first time.

If you have any further comments or questions, you can contact
Porsche directly by e-mail at judicial.review@porsche.co.uk or
telephone 08457 911 911.

Thank you again for your support which was tremendously
encouraging and important to the challenge.

Yours sincerely,

Andy Goss 
Managing Director


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## zimzum42 (9 Jul 2008)

Hillingdon is a dump....


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## yello (9 Jul 2008)

True, that's maybe why it needs a youth facility.


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## LLB (9 Jul 2008)

It is a shame that it didn't come to court in Red Kens reign. It proves that his was the politics of envy, and had nothing to do with congestion busting or making a real difference to CO2 emissions in the capital


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## jonesy (9 Jul 2008)

Oh ffs- this was not a victory for Porche at all: Boris had made it perfectly clear during the election that he was going to scrap the proposed charge and that is what he has done. If he had supported it then I really don't see why a car company would have the legal right to overturn a decision made by an elected government.


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## domtyler (9 Jul 2008)

Good for Porsche I say, they have won a good victory as this extra charge would have actually increased pollution and congestion in London for everyone.


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## jonesy (9 Jul 2008)

domtyler said:


> Good for Porsche I say, they have won a good victory as this extra charge would have actually increased pollution and congestion in London for everyone.





How many times?! Boris always said he'd scrap the charge, Boris scrapped the charge. The Porche case had nothing to do with it.

No, it wouldn't have increased pollution- read the impact assessment. There was a risk of increasing congestion but the charges were to have been reviewed and revised if necessary. Now I'd agree that the 100% exemptions for small cars was a serious flaw that undermined the principle of a congestion charge, but if you are going to object then please do so on the basis of an informed opinion...


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## LLB (9 Jul 2008)

Good old Porsche sticking it to Red Ken and his commie regime


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## domtyler (9 Jul 2008)

Yeah, Go Porsche!!


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## Jaded (9 Jul 2008)

domtyler said:


> Yeah, Go Porsche!!



There's domtyler's informed opinion. mjones!


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## jonesy (9 Jul 2008)

Jaded said:


> There's domtyler's informed opinion. mjones!



He exceeded my expectations!


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## mickle (9 Jul 2008)

How annoying, I start a thread and two of the contributors are on my ignore list.

Just need Corporal Punishment to join in and I'll have the full set.


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## domtyler (9 Jul 2008)

mjones said:


> How many times?! Boris always said he'd scrap the charge, Boris scrapped the charge. The Porche case had nothing to do with it.
> 
> No, it wouldn't have increased pollution- read the impact assessment. There was a risk of increasing congestion but the charges were to have been reviewed and revised if necessary. Now I'd agree that the 100% exemptions for small cars was a serious flaw that undermined the principle of a congestion charge, but if you are going to object then please do so on the basis of an informed opinion...



Okay I will make one serious point then, they actually interviewed Ken on London Tonight last evening and his main thrust was that "Well he'll [Boris] have to raise the money from somewhere else then because he's got a whole new generation of Route Masters [the Red Double Deckers] to pay for in the next five years.".

Interpret that as you will.


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## domtyler (9 Jul 2008)

mickle said:


> How annoying, I start a thread and two of the contributors are on my ignore list.
> 
> Just need Corporal Punishment to join in and I'll have the full set.



Just grow up and delete the Ignore list Mickle. This can't go on forever!


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## LLB (9 Jul 2008)

mickle said:


> How annoying, I start a thread and two of the contributors are on my ignore list.
> 
> Just need Corporal Punishment to join in and I'll have the full set.


Mickle is a knob


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## Bad Company (9 Jul 2008)

I thought Boris would agree to scrap this charge but can only assume that he agreed to pay the legal costs as he knew he could not win in Court.


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## LLB (9 Jul 2008)

Bad Company said:


> I thought Boris would agree to scrap this charge but can only assume that he agreed to pay the legal costs as he knew he could not win in Court.



Yet another example of that knob Red Ken wasting tax payers hard earned


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## mickle (9 Jul 2008)

domtyler said:


> Just grow up and delete the Ignore list Mickle. This can't go on forever!



Ok but just for this thread.


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## mickle (9 Jul 2008)

linfordlunchbox said:


> Yet another example of that knob Red Ken wasting tax payers hard earned



Whereas £16,000 first year depreciation on a Cayenne is not wasting 'hard earned'?


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## mickle (9 Jul 2008)

linfordlunchbox said:


> Mickle is a knob



Evidence?


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## domtyler (9 Jul 2008)

mickle said:


> Ok but just for this thread.



Good lad!


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## LLB (9 Jul 2008)

mickle said:


> Evidence?



HERE


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## tdr1nka (9 Jul 2008)

I love LLB's arguments, sometimes as short and gossamer thin as the life of the mayfly.


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## LLB (9 Jul 2008)

tdr1nka said:


> I love LLB's arguments, sometimes as short and gossamer thin as the life of the mayfly.



But they live for years before hatching


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## tdr1nka (9 Jul 2008)

UGH! Linford is pupating!!


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## Bad Company (9 Jul 2008)

The £25 congestion charge was an awful idea that has rightly been dropped. End of story.


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## jonesy (9 Jul 2008)

User said:


> Not really. Porsche snuck a quick writ in, despite knowing that Boris has said he was going to reverse Ken's decision. In judicial review, 'costs follow'.
> 
> A sneaky move on Porsche's part, rather than any fault of Boris.



Which has also helped them to claim the 'credit' for it, as if it were somehow an admirable thing that commercial interests should prevail over elected government...


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## asterix (9 Jul 2008)

Another sign that Boris Johnson can't hack it.. When he got elected I suspect that David Cameron thought he'd got shot of a liability from his opposition team. Now he's got one running London


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## jonesy (9 Jul 2008)

asterix said:


> Another sign that Boris Johnson can't hack it.. When he got elected I suspect that David Cameron thought he'd got shot of a liability from his opposition team. Now he's got one running London



I'm unclear how this reflects badly on Boris. Although I don't agree with his decision, he was only doing what he said he'd do in his manifesto. How does that show he couldn't hack it?


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## mickle (9 Jul 2008)

domtyler said:


> Good lad!



Good lad? I'm 46 FFS.


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## Jaded (9 Jul 2008)

mickle said:


> Good lad? I'm 46 FFS.



46? 

That's 15K more than dom earns.


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## LLB (9 Jul 2008)

mickle said:


> Good lad? I'm 46 FFS.


Waist or inside leg ?


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## mickle (9 Jul 2008)

linfordlunchbox said:


> Waist or inside leg ?



46 proof.


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## CotterPin (11 Jul 2008)

asterix said:


> Another sign that Boris Johnson can't hack it.. When he got elected I suspect that David Cameron thought he'd got shot of a liability from his opposition team. Now he's got one running London





mjones said:


> I'm unclear how this reflects badly on Boris. Although I don't agree with his decision, he was only doing what he said he'd do in his manifesto. How does that show he couldn't hack it?




Answering for Asterix and his response may be different but I would suggest that Johnson got himself elected on the strength of overturning some of Livingstone's unpopular decisions. However Livingstone was willing to make those decisions because he realised they needed to be taken. 

We need to reduce cars on our streets in London and reduce pollution. He was taking those actions to make these happens.

As far as I can see, Johnson has no plans to do anything that really needs to be done to make London better. He just wants to be loved which means he will make no genuinely difficult decisions during his mayoralty. Therefore we have four years of nothing meaningful happening in the capital.


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## simon l& and a half (15 Jul 2008)

I wouldn't be that pessimistic. The powerhouse of change is TfL, which employs fearsomely bright young people to bring about (dread phrase) modal shift. That will go on, because Johnson is too thick to work out what's happening.


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## spindrift (15 Jul 2008)

I reckon Bozza thinks he did well to campaign for three months and stay off the booze. Now he's elected, he has no idea what's going on and couldn't care less:



View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSI9ToOAdpc


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## Bad Company (15 Jul 2008)

FFS - Boris had a manifesto and the people voted for him and it. Now he is doing what he said was going to do in that manifesto. That is democracy.


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## spindrift (15 Jul 2008)

Boris has previously praised porsche. Now £400,000 of London taxpayers' money has been handed over to a luxury car company along with a decision that will be a major boost to the company and increase pollution and congestion in the capital.

The man's is surrounded with the stench of sleaze and corruption.


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## beancounter (15 Jul 2008)

spindrift said:


> Boris has previously praised porsche. Now £400,000 of London taxpayers' money has been handed over to a luxury car company along with a decision that will be a major boost to the company and increase pollution and congestion in the capital.
> 
> The man's is surrounded with the stench of sleaze and corruption.



Didn't Porsche say they were giving the money to charity?

bc


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## spindrift (15 Jul 2008)

_Didn't Porsche say they were giving the money to charity?_

Tax dodge, donations are deductable. besides, it was probably allocated anyway, be interesting to see if there's a net increase to their donations...

Plus, of course, there's the economic benefit to Porsche by Boris taking a regressive step in a city that led Europe on congestion and pollution controls.


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## LLB (15 Jul 2008)

spindrift said:


> Boris has previously praised porsche. Now £400,000 of London taxpayers' money has been handed over to a luxury car company along with a decision that will be a major boost to the company *and increase pollution and congestion in the capital.*
> 
> The man's is surrounded with the stench of sleaze and corruption.



And Terminal 5 at Heathrow


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## spindrift (15 Jul 2008)

Plus, corporation tax paid by Porsche= 25%

25% of £400k = £100,000.

Vote Boris, a mayor who places the council tax paid by nearly-blind pensioners who fought and died in three world wars in the pockets of big business.


I haven't been so sickened since the last time.


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## domtyler (15 Jul 2008)

Jaded said:


> 46?
> 
> That's 15K more than dom earnt fifteen years ago.



Corrected.


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