ABD Environment Spokesman Ben Adams explained:

"When bodies such as TFL control the whole system it creates a vested interest for them to take away choice and force members of the public onto the public transport which is providing their income. London's drivers have seen this over recent years as their car use has been hindered by obstruction and removal of road space. This latest attack will mean exclusion for the less well off and further exacerbate the economic and social harm already caused by the congestion charge. Those who cannot afford newer cars will have no choice but to make a transport choice that may well be highly inefficient for their needs. Public transport is simply not a practicable choice for many journeys, even those that use it often need to use a car for some journeys. TFL have a history of making life difficult for drivers whilst not improving choice. Good public transport will naturally attract users, enforced use by penalising the alternatives is not the way to go."

Adams continued:

"Transport Research Laboratory report TRL 431 studied this issue and concluded that restrictions on cars are not warranted on air quality grounds. The vast majority of cars in London will be less than eight years old already, many cars built before this are quite clean, catalytic converters became standard fitment some 13 years ago. The amount of pollution caused by the naturally declining number of older cars doing ever decreasing mileages is so minute as to be insignificant."