The air around London’s Oxford Street is the world’s worst for NO2 emissions according to new research.

 

A multitude of taxis, buses, cars and commercial vehicles all help to push the capital’s famous and very busy shopping street to the top of the global league.

 

Data collected by King’s College London shows that concentrations of NO2 gas have reached as high as 135 micrograms per cubic meter (mcg/m3) on three separate occasions so far this year – more than three times the EU limit of 40mcg/m3. In March, things got even worse, reaching as high as 463mcg/m3.

 

The street also broke hourly limits of 200mcg more than 1,500 times during the year.

 

Oxford Street is a particularly busy thoroughfare through the capital for both foot and road traffic; exposing pedestrians to dangerously high levels of NO2. High levels of NO2 are known to exacerbate respiratory diseases such as asthma, and is also linked to heart attacks.

 

Speaking to the Sunday Times, David Carslaw, of King’s College London said: “To my knowledge, this level is the highest in the world in terms of both hourly and annual mean. NO2 concentrations in Oxford Street are as high as they ever have been in the long history of air pollution.”

 

Carslaw told the newspaper that a loophole in current European emissions standards, had led to a growth in diesel engine vehicles that emit lower particulate levels than old engines, but higher NO2 levels.

 

The news has lead to calls for more action on London’s air pollution.

 

However the London Mayor’s office told the newspaper that the report from King’s College was ‘misleading’: “Contrary to any misleading claims, London’s levels of air pollution are lower than many world cities. We know this because we are serious about monitoring pollution levels.