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Pressure is growing on London mayor Sadiq Khan to reverse his decision to increase the congestion charge after the lawyer taking legal action against him told motortransport.co.uk he had received wide-ranging support.

Black Antelope Law director Shaheen Mamun said that since he put the mayor on notice of a legal challenge, he had been contacted by people from many different businesses who felt left out of the scope of Transport for London’s (TfL) exemptions to the charge.

Mamun said: “The list of those affected was endless and only demonstrates the substantial impact people are still facing in attempting to get back on their feet during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Most importantly, we have been approached by a well-recognised pressure group who intend to pursue further action against the mayor of London in order to hold him to account for this unfair policy and they are in discussions with our legal team to collaboratively bring the legal challenge forward.”

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The lawyer’s pre-action protocol letter to the mayor was prompted by the decision to “temporarily” increase the charge to £15 from 22 June and an apparent absence of consultation over the move.

However, a TfL spokesman said it had sought views: “That closed on 4 June,” the spokesman told us.

“We did have 13,000 responses to that. It was not a statutory consultation, but we did seek views and we have made some changes to the reimbursements.”

Both the FTA and RHA have heavily criticised the decision to include lorries in the increased charges.

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