Filed under: Green, Porsche, UK
Porsche claims victory in London congestion charge case
London motorists can rejoice after a planned £25 daily congestion charge was lifted by a signature of consent order by an administrative court in London. Porsche was a major voice against the charge, and the German automaker went full-tilt in the courts to throw out former mayor Ken Livingstone's hefty tax. The proposed tax likely didn't do much good for Livingsone's re-election campaign, which he lost to Boris Johnson in May, who campaigned against the charge.
As the victor in the case, Porsche will receive a six-figure lump sum to pay its legal bills, but the German automaker isn't interested in the money. The money will be donated to UK-based Skidz, which teaches at-risk kids to be automotive mechanics. Mayor Johnson will now work to introduce a 'fairer and more effective' congestion charge. Hit the jump for a bit of Porsche gloating in press release form.
[Source: Autoblog Green]
PRESS RELEASE:
Stuttgart/London. Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, Stuttgart, and its sales subsidiary Porsche Cars Great Britain, won their fight against the increase in the London congestion charge. The signature of a consent order by an administrative court in London has finally swept the plans of the former Mayor, Ken Livingstone, to introduce an unfair and disproportionate daily charge of £25 per driver in central London off the table. The agreement also included the award of legal costs. Porsche will donate these costs, expected to be a six-figure sum, to the British youth charity Skidz.
Andy Goss, Managing Director of Porsche Cars Great Britain, said, "We were always confident that our legal case was right and that we would win in the end. The charge was clearly unfair and was actually going to increase emissions in London. Porsche is proud to have played a decisive role in striking down such a blatantly political tax increase targeting motorists."
Porsche said at the outset that the proposed congestion charge would be bad for London. Boris Johnson, Mayor of London since the beginning of May, accepted that his predecessor's plans were wrong and quite possibly even unlawful. It is therefore a logical step for Porsche to give the legal costs awarded back to the people of London in the form of a charitable donation. The Skidz project trains at-risk young people as car mechanics and reintegrates them into society.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
2004m3driver 2:31PM (7/08/2008)
Go Porsche!
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Alex 2:36PM (7/08/2008)
Good on Porsche. I'm very happy to see that they are reinvesting their money back into the community.
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YourNameHere 2:37PM (7/08/2008)
no one from this day forward can say anything bad about porsche. the fact that they are donating all the money to a charity like that earns them alot of respect in my book.
they could have just as easily kept the money and no one would have even noticed/cared. two thumbs up for porsche.
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MikeofLA 2:40PM (7/08/2008)
Porsche = one of the best car companies Ever. Really an awesome move on their part... now if they could just donate a 911 TT cab to me...
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porschedevotee 2:51PM (7/08/2008)
Man, I'd love to work for Porsche. Remember when they gave everyone in the company $6-8K bonuses last year because they had great sales figures? Awesome.
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Quan 3:24PM (7/08/2008)
Same here, I keep sending my resume to Porsche Cars North America here in Atlanta but so far no good. It'd be an awesome job though.
Mobius_1 11:07PM (7/08/2008)
@ Quan
Maybe you need to change your sig from that BMW to a Porsche first :)
I, on the other hand, would like to work for Ferrari but it seems to be an even longer shot
Yar 2:52PM (7/08/2008)
Now hopefully automakers take CAFE to court.
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Joce03 5:39PM (7/08/2008)
Why take CAFE to court? Because its the only way that emissions will ever get under control? There is a big difference between charging drivers $50 a day to drive to work (London) and putting a system in place to force automotive companies to build more efficient vehicles CAFE).
Yar 10:34PM (7/08/2008)
Fuel economy is not equal to emissions.
CAFE is nonsense. High gas prices will force Americans to want more efficient cars and that will therefore force Car Companies to make more efficient cars.
The only thing CAFE does is screw people who have either the need for inefficient vehicles (People who need trucks/SUVs for towing or big families or both) or have the disposable income to drive whatever they want.
bfaukner 3:00PM (7/08/2008)
Way to go Porsche! I have always been a Porschephile and seeing them make that donation just helps reinforce what kind of company Porsche is!
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Dazza 3:18PM (7/08/2008)
For anyone who understands British politics, you'll know that this Mayor's reversal over the congestion charge higher rate has nothing to do with Porsche's protest and everything to do with a) the Tories pander only to the wealthy (inlcuding Porsche owners) and b) the fact that 2009 is a crucial general election year.
After the election, the Tories will reclaim their potential lost revenue by other means - be rest assured of that.
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Big Rocket 8:05PM (7/08/2008)
For anyone who understands politics, and not just British politics per se, you'll know people get the government they deserve. Your devotion to Livingston notwithstanding, the majority of Londoners have had enough of his antics. Livingston lost his re-election by a solid 8 points, which shows your own countrymen would disagree with your high regard for Livingston.
New York Post, USA: "He [Johnson] won by a solid 8 points. Of course, Johnson himself was less than half the reason. Londoners were finally fed up with Red Ken - who had governed by a divisive left-wing political strategy of setting one half of London against the other. Eventually, the voters he'd alienated added up to more than 50 percent."
http://www.nypost.com/seven/05062008/postopinion/opedcolumnists/labors_lost_love_109625.htm
radhoo 3:40PM (7/08/2008)
@ porschedevotee - they gave you 5000$ ? Wow now that's a company that i would work for. What are you doing at Porsche, as a job?
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porschedevotee 5:30PM (7/08/2008)
LOL! I don't work for Porsche, nor even own one, I just love them (both the company and the cars). I'm actually a starving music/architecture student :)
The article I was originally referencing was this:
http://www.autoblog.com/2007/10/06/porsche-rewards-employees-with-7-000-bonus/
Iridium 3:53PM (7/08/2008)
Now they just have to get rid of all of the traffic cameras, stop the police from abusing power to generate revenue, get rid of the planned speeding drones, throw the rest of parliament out on the streets, and take back the UK from the idiots ruining the country.
Oh yeah that goes for the US as well. Since we are rapidly importing every problem the UK has into the US for the sake of revenue enforcement. The UK lost every one of its car companies and the same thing is happening here.
Take a look America here it comes.
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Dazza 7:21PM (7/08/2008)
The demise of the Rootes Group and BL/Rover Group has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the way the UK deals with traffic law enforcement.
Whatever you may think of motorway cameras, they are essential in alerting the police to accident troublespots to prevent rapid and crippling traffic congestion. Traffic congestion is becoming such a huge problem for the UK, it is costing millions upon millions in lost productivity and closing two lanes of a three-lane motorway can cause 30 to 40-mile tailbacks in just a few hours.
adr 3:55PM (7/08/2008)
Now they just have to get rid of all of the traffic cameras, stop the police from abusing power to generate revenue, get rid of the planned speeding drones, throw the rest of parliament out on the streets, and take back the UK from the idiots ruining the country.
Oh yeah that goes for the US as well. Since we are rapidly importing every problem the UK has into the US for the sake of revenue enforcement. The UK lost every one of its car companies and the same thing is happening here.
Take a look America here it comes.
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steve-o 4:26PM (7/08/2008)
911 = LOVE EM
PANAMERA= hate em
CONGESTION VICTORY= LOVE EM
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Dazza 8:46PM (7/08/2008)
Big Rocket: it is more than obvious you have little idea about how the British electorate tend to operate. Local council elections are very rarely fought on local issues unfortunately, but instead are used by voters to show their disapproval over national issues. That's why Livingstone - along with many Labour councillors across the country - were recently ousted. Several local by-elections for House of Commons seats also proved this.
Perhaps you could research the amount of new business and investment Livingstone brought into London over the past eight years - indeed, the amount of new construction during that time has never before been seen in London since the end of WW2, much of it criticised by the Tories but welcomed by business leaders. There were many fears Boris Johnson would cancel many of the skyscraper projects approved by Livingstone - who wanted London to be an iconic 21st century city - however he has dampened those fears somewhat - again, viewed by many as simple Tory electioneering.
Once next year's general election is over, Johnson will seek to rake in income lost from the potential congestion charge hike, but he will target the working class instead. That's how the Conservatives have always operated in the past. If he unravels the congestion charge completely, London's crippling traffic congestion will get worse, the cost to the local economy will soar, and fewer companies will be attracted to the local market. That will spell higher unemployment rates and higher indirect taxation for Londoners to replace lost corporation tax.