Whatever their political persuasion, fleet managers operating within London will be pleased to see the back of former mayor, Ken Livingstone.

The Labour mayor lost his seat in last week’s election to Boris Johnson, a Conservative MP.

Mr Johnson beat his rival, who had been the capitals’ mayor for eight years, by 139,772 votes.

The election drew a record turnout by London voters.

Mr Johnson told Fleet News that ones of his first moves as new mayor will be to hold a consultation with residents in the area covered by the extended congestion charge zone – known as the westward extension.

If a majority ask for the westward extension to be placed back outside of the zone, he said he will respect their wishes.

The new mayor has also confirmed that he will scrap the planned changes to the congestion charges, which were due to come into effect in October.

This means that cars in Vehicle Excise Duty bands A and B will not be exempt from the charge.

In addition, higher emitting vehicles – those that produce more than 225g/km of CO2 – will not attract the proposed new £25 charge.

This will please Porsche, who had begun legal proceedings against Mr Livingstone in an attempt to force him to rethink his £25 penalty.

Under Mr Johnson, only zero emitting vehicles, along with some other types of vehicles such as those using alternative fuels, public service vehicles and recovery vehicles, will be exempt from the congestion charge.

Qualifying residents’ vehicles will also be eligible for a 90% discount.

However, Mr Johnson has said that he still plans to reform the congestion charges in the future.