{"id":717771,"date":"2026-07-29T19:14:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T19:14:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/717771\/"},"modified":"2026-07-29T19:14:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T19:14:09","slug":"tfl-brings-case-worth-up-to-1bn-against-carmakers-over-ulez-compliance-low-emission-zones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/717771\/","title":{"rendered":"TfL brings case worth up to \u00a31bn against carmakers over Ulez compliance | Low emission zones"},"content":{"rendered":"

Transport for London<\/a> is pursuing a potential \u00a31bn legal action against car manufacturers over vehicles that it argues should not have been allowed to drive freely in the capital\u2019s clean-air zone.<\/p>\n

The high court heard that TfL<\/a> was making allegations of \u201cfraud and negligence\u201d against manufacturers including Stellantis, Jaguar Land Rover, BMW and Nissan over their vehicles\u2019 levels of diesel emissions.<\/p>\n

The owners of the most polluting cars, largely diesels manufactured more than 11 years ago, have to pay a \u00a312.50 daily charge to enter London\u2019s ultra-low emission zone<\/a> (Ulez), which was launched in 2019 and expanded to cover every borough in the capital in 2024.<\/p>\n

Lawyers for TfL argue that vehicles, which should have paid a levy had entered the Ulez without charge, depriving TfL of revenue and undermining its attempts to improve air quality.<\/p>\n

Legal action was launched in 2024 but stayed pending parallel \u201cdieselgate\u201d litigation, which sought to establish that car manufacturers deliberately designed cars to mask the true level of nitrogen oxide (NOx) pollution. The allegations were largely rejected in a recent verdict<\/a> favouring car manufacturers but lawyers are considering an appeal.<\/p>\n

In a procedural hearing this week, first reported by the Financial Times, lawyers for TfL said manufacturers \u201cexpressly or impliedly represented\u201d that certain diesel vehicles were compliant. Laurence Page, barrister for TfL, said: \u201cThe representations were false, made dishonestly or recklessly, alternatively negligently, and caused TfL loss,\u201d and TfL would be seeking up to \u00a31bn, the FT reported.<\/p>\n

Lawyers for carmakers said TfL was making serious allegations \u201cwith potentially far-reaching consequences\u201d but had provided \u201cno proper details or particulars whatsoever\u201d, according to the FT.<\/p>\n

The details of TfL\u2019s lawsuit have emerged after a rebuff for lawyers and clean air campaigners in the parallel \u201cdieselgate\u201d case<\/a> earlier this month. A high court ruling rejected most of the allegations that car manufacturers had knowingly installed so-called defeat devices to rig tests.<\/p>\n

TfL has been granted a stay until October, as lawyers in the dieselgate case consider an appeal over the verdict on which TfL\u2019s suit would appear to depend. TfL was a signatory as a vehicle owner to the dieselgate case, brought by a number of law firms led by Leigh Day on behalf of 1.6 million drivers.<\/p>\n

A TfL spokesperson said: \u201cThis procedural hearing covers TfL\u2019s claims against certain vehicle manufacturers relating to alleged losses of Ulez revenues. The Ulez is a key mechanism in TfL\u2019s efforts to improve air quality in London.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe court indicated that it will stay these claims, while separate claims by vehicle owners against vehicle manufacturers proceed further.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Transport for London is pursuing a potential \u00a31bn legal action against car manufacturers over vehicles that it argues…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":717772,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[84,59,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-717771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-gb","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/717771","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=717771"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/717771\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/717772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=717771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=717771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=717771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}