Taxi emission test claims denied

The filters are designed to reduce harmful emissions

Claims that London cabs fitted with pollution-busting equipment have failed a second emissions test have been rubbished by the mayor.

Ken Livingstone ordered new tests after the London Cab Drivers Club claimed an assessment of four cabs showed their exhaust filters made the air dirtier.

London Assembly Conservatives claimed two of the four cars failed a re-test.

Mr Livingstone denied this and said the tests showed "there was nothing wrong with the emission reduction equipment".

Roger Evans, London Assembly Transport spokesman for the Conservatives, said the Public Carriage Office (PCO) had notified drivers that two of the four vehicles had failed a basic smoke test.

Cleaner transport

He said: "Despite multiple failed tests on these vehicles by technicians approved by the mayor, they are still...continuing regardless, with not the slightest regard to the health of Londoners."

But the mayor said these claims were "simply wrong".

He said the results achieved in the first tests were only possible because of the "appalling state of the particular vehicles on which the equipment was being used".

London's black cabs must be fitted with the filters by June 2008 as part of the mayor's pledge to provide cleaner transport.

Earlier this month the London Cab Drivers Club said tests on the four different types of filters they were required to install showed that even the best performing filter emitted 30% more pollution.

Transport for London (TfL) rubbished the claims saying they were based on "dubious test results of a very small number of vehicles".