Luxury car congestion charge scam

• Owners register their cars as taxis
• Licence avoids £8-a-day congestion charge
• Fears more will dodge fees if charges rise to £25

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London's luxury car owners are registering their vehicles as private-hire taxis to evade the £8-per-day congestion charge.

By paying an £82 application fee and buying a £27-per-year licence, car owners can claim exemption from the £8-per-day charge.

So far, an Aston Martin, two Maserati Quattroportes, 31 Bentleys, 18 BMW X5s, 52 Range Rovers, three Maybach 62s and eight Rolls-Royce Phantoms are said to have been registered in this way.

Showing just how lax the current system is, there are eight Mercedes SL models currently registered as private-hire vehicles, yet these cars do not have a back seat.

There are fears that the problem will become more widespread if Transport for London adopts proposals to raise the congestion charge fee to £25 a day for the highest-polluting vehicles.