The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has urged Transport Secretary to “stop dragging his feet” and ensure the Government takes legal action against Volkswagen for the emissions scandal.

Sadiq Khan has urged the Government to take legal action against Volkswagen for the emissions scandal.

The call comes over a year after the carmaker’s use of ‘defeat devices’ was discovered and follows last week’s European Commission announcement that it is to take legal action against seven member states, including the UK, for not having clamped down on the emissions scandal.

In his letter the Mayor calls on Mr Grayling to set out what urgent regulatory action he intends to take in the coming weeks

Mr Khan said: “‘Dieselgate’ is a global health scandal, but more than 12 months after the use of so-called ‘defeat devices’ came to light the Government is running scared from its regulatory responsibility to take action on VW. In the US the authorities have secured over £12bn but so far our Government has only secured an offering of a mere £1.1 million – which is simply outrageous. I am now urging Chris Grayling to stand up for the British public, and come forward with an urgent strong plan of action.

“It’s high time the Government showed the leadership we need and demands compensation for the diesel emissions which have affected millions of people across the UK combined with a national diesel scrappage scheme to get these vehicles off our streets now.”

Mr Khan’s latest comments follow his call last month for the VW Group to pay £2.5m to compensate for lost Congestion Charge revenue following the ‘Dieselgate’ emissions scandal.

Annual results filed recently by Volkswagen Group United Kingdom Limited with Companies House for the year ending 31 December 2015 see the carmaker warn of the possibility of additional lawsuits to the UK arm.

The report said: “Various lawsuits are said to be pending against Volkswagen Group United Kingdom Limited as a result of the NOx emissions issue. No claims have been served on Volkswagen Group United Kingdom Limited as yet. At this stage it is too early, therefore, to reliably assess the merit of the claims. It is not possible, however, to dismiss as remote the possibility of any economic costs resulting from the defence of such claims, not least the legal costs incurred in defending such claims.”

And now the EU has said that it is to sue seven member states on the grounds that they disregarded EU vehicle type approval rules by not forcing VW to comply with the law.

The Czech Republic, Greece and Lithuania are to face legal action because they failed to introduce penalties systems into their national law while it’s taking action against Germany, Luxembourg, Spain and the UK for not applying their national provisions on penalties.

Germany and the United Kingdom were also told they broke the law by refusing to disclose full technical information on NOx emissions irregularities gathered in their national investigations. Member States now have two months to respond.