Volkswagen emissions scandal: UK government to conduct investigation into car emissions
The Department for Transport has announced that it will conduct its own investigation into car emissions, the latest twist in the Volkswagen scandal.
The UK regulator, the Vehicle Certification Agency, will re-run lab tests and compare them to 'real-world' emissions.
Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said: “The government takes the unacceptable actions of VW extremely seriously. My priority is to protect the public as we go through the process of investigating what went wrong and what we can do to stop it happening again in the future.”
“We have called on the EU to conduct a Europe wide investigation into whether there is evidence that cars here have been fitted with defeat devices. In the meantime we are taking robust action. The Vehicle Certification Agency, the UK regulator, is working with vehicle manufacturers to ensure that this issue is not industry wide.”
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"As part of this work they will re-run laboratory tests where necessary and compare them against real world driving emissions.”
Volkswagen chief executive Martin Winterkorn resigned last night after it emerged on Friday that the German car manufacturer had installed 'defeat devices' in its diesel models, to mislead officials over the levels of nitrous oxides emitted.
The company has set aside €6.5bn (£4.7bn), and admitted some 11m cars could be affected. This week 30 per cent of the company's value has ben wiped out. This comes after BMW share price fell this morning on reports one of their diesel models exceeded EU emissions limits 11-times over.