Volkswagen emissions scandal: British cars to be re-tested

The Vehicle Certification Agency, which is part of the Department of Transport, has announced that it will start its own inquiry into car emissions and testing, running new lab tests on engines from across the industry and comparing the results with on-the-road emissions.

The move comes in the wake of the Volkswagen emissions scandal this week and as other European countries have announced their own investigations.

The 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.”

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