The Labour Party has written to the Director of Public Prosecutions demanding an investigation into the Conservative Party, after they sent out fake “Driving Charge Notices” to Londoners, wrongly claiming that Sadiq Khan intends to impose “pay per mile” driving charge, and demanding they hand over their data in order to avoid a penalty.

Proposals for pay-per-mile road charging have been discussed in the past by City Hall, including by Khan’s Conservative predecessor Boris Johnson. Rishi Sunak was also reportedly a previous supporter of such plans.

However, Khan has repeatedly ruled out bringing in pay-per-mile charging over the past year, saying again last month that he had “categorically” ruled out any such plans.

As Byline Times reported last week, the leaflets are designed to look like penalty charges, and warn recipients that “if you’re not prepared to pay then scan the QR code below.”

There is no mention of the Conservative Party on the leaflets, aside from a small print reference on the reverse of the leaflets, crediting them to CCHQ - the abbreviated name of the party’s headquarters.

Voters scanning the code with their phones are taken to a linked website requesting they hand over their details in order to fill out a “petition” against Khan’s “plans”.

Khan’s campaign say the leaflets are a breach of the Representation of the People’s Act. 

Under the Act campaigns can be guilty of trying to exert “undue influence” on voters if they seek to win votes by “causing or threatening to cause financial loss to a person”.

Labour MP Karen Buck, who is chair of Khan’s campaign, said the leaflets were “legally questionable”.

“We’re now seeing tactics being used by the Tories which rival even those used in their disgraced 2016 Mayoral campaign” Buck said in a statement.

“The Tories are scaremongering people who are already worried about their bills thanks to the catastrophic cost-of-living crisis they created. These tactics are legally questionable, and certainly mark another low in this desperate Tory campaign characterised by dirty tactics and lies.”

In their letter to the DPP, the party states that "it is apparent that Ms Hall, in falsely implying that Mr Khan plans to introduce a “pay per mile” scheme, is suggesting that by voting for Mr Khan, electors may be caused financial loss as a result. This is a clear attempt to induce persons not to vote (or not to vote for Mr Khan) on the basis of that prospective financial loss, which therefore engages the Section 114A offence, with reference to subsection 4 (d)."

The Conservatives have also faced questions over their use of voter data, with regards to the leaflets.

A spokesperson for the Information Commissioners’ Office told this paper last week that they were considering complaints made about the leaflets.

 “We are aware of issues raised in relation to campaign leaflets and are considering those concerns", they said.

“If a candidate or party asks you to complete a survey or petition, they should be clear how that data will be used in future.

“In many cases, it won’t be appropriate for the party or candidate to then repurpose that information for political campaigning.”

A spokesperson for Susan Hall’s campaign was contacted for comment.