VW accused of dodging £1m bill
Ministers say taxpayer could be out of pocket if brand does not reimburse Government
Government points finger as Dieselgate fallout rumbles on
VOLKSWAGEN has been accused of failing to pay up for the UK Government’s emissions retesting programme, costing the taxpayer £1million, despite promises that the public wouldn’t be out of pocket.
In the wake of the Dieselgate emissions scandal, the Department for Transport (DFT) retested 37 vehicles from 20 car makers to determine if others were using similar defeat devices to pass emissions tests. The £1.1million testing programme found no defeat devices were present in other manufacturers’ models.
The Government also set up a £1m Market Surveillance Unit to test vehicles entering the UK market in the future to ensure no manufacturer is violating emissions laws or standards.
And while Volkswagen paid the initial £1.1m last November, it’s yet to pay the remainder as it maintains there’s “no legal basis” to fund the “future activities” of the Market Surveillance Unit because they’re “unrelated” to the NOX emissions issue affecting VW models.
VW said it had explained this to the DFT in November and had not heard back, so had concluded the Government accepted that it had repaid the full amount incurred as a result of additional testing.
At the Transport Select Committee last week, VW UK boss Paul Willis confirmed this, but also said: “I’m very clear the British taxpayer should have no liability on this topic. I stick by that today.” But the Department for Transport disputed this, and said it would be chasing VW for the entire £2.1m as it was the German maker’s actions that had cast doubt on the “integrity of the whole industry”.
Transport minister John Hayes said: “It is not true to say VW have done everything we asked them,” before adding: “They have paid the £1.1million, but I want the rest.”
During the Transport Select Committee hearing, MPS also accused Willis of “blatant lies” after he said Volkswagen “had not misled customers in any way”.
UK owners will still not be eligible for compensation despite a $15.3bn (£12.3bn) settlement being agreed with nearly 500,000 US owners, with Willis arguing there is “nothing wrong with any of [the cars] at all”, and the 1.2 million vehicle recall in the UK is being carried out to simply remove “any doubt” from owners.
The VW boss also revealed the company has so far fixed 470,000 of the affected cars, and is now attending to 20,000 a week.
Graham Stringer MP said: “I have seen all sorts of evasive witnesses, but I think we have just seen somebody tell us absolute blatant lies.”
“UK owners will still not be eligible for compensation despite £12.3bn US settlement”