Spot the difference: the owners of the Corsavan (l) pay £10 for each day they enter the London Congestion Charging Zone. The owners of the Corsa car (r), which has identical emissions, are exempt and pay nothing.

A flaw in the London Congestion Charge rules means that vans with low-emission vehicles don’t get the same exemptions as car operators.

Currently, any motorist who drives a car with emissions below 100g/km CO₂ is exempt from the London Congestion Charge. However, light commercial vehicles under 3.5 tonnes with sub-100g/km CO₂ emissions are not exempt.

Vauxhall’s Corsavan 1.3 CDTi ecoFLEX with Start/Stop technology achieves emissions of just 89g/km CO₂, exactly the same as the equivalent 5-door Corsa, but unlike its passenger car variant, its operators must pay the Congestion Charge of £10 per day.

For example, Plantire, an equipment hire firm based near Heathrow, runs two Corsavans as service vehicles and usually makes six journeys per week into the Congestion Charge zone. It is effectively being penalised for running a low-CO₂ van in London to the tune of around £3,000 per year.

Although this inequality is only going to affect a relatively small number of London van operators, it is very unfair and should clearly be rectified. Vans like the Corsavan are genuine car-derived vans; they are the same as the equivalent car models, except for interior modifications to create a loadspace and remove the rear row of seats.

If you want to contact Transport for London to complain about this nonsense, then you can email them at:

enquiries@cclondon.com