Private and commercial drivers in London could come under more pressure to stop engine idling in a move to help cut air pollution.

The London Assembly said previous work on stopping engine idling had had little effect.

A motion agreed unanimously today by the London Assembly says the Mayor and Transport for London (TfL) need to do more to discourage iddling of all road vehicle engines – including private cars, taxis, private hire vehicles, public sector vehicles, buses, coaches, vans and lorries.

Tom Copley AM said: “It has been encouraging to see that tackling air pollution in London has been high on the Mayor’s agenda, but it is evident that a lot more needs to be done.

“One of the most significant causes of air pollution is the idling of engines of all road vehicles. Unfortunately, TfL’s previous campaign to address this issue has had limited reach amongst Londoners and failed to yield any significant behavioural changes amongst road users.”

Previous work by TfL has seen a Tower Bridge ‘no idling’ scheme implemented along with air quality alerts telling drivers to switch off their engines in traffic jams.