Campaigners are calling for a 'Car Free Day' in London after plans to ban cars and buses from Oxford Street were met with a huge blow.

Westminster Council say proposals to ban cars and buses from entering the busy London road are "unnaceptable."

Cabinet member for Oxford Street, Daniel Astaire, has told Transport for London (TfL) to stop working on the plan altogether.

Some believe it will cause traffic chaos and gridlock on nearby roads - but environmental campaigners are still determined to see the plans pushed through.

Jemima Hartshorn, who founded and runs the environmental campaign group Mums For Lungs, supports them.

So far a petition set up by the group, to campaign for a Car Free Day later this year in London, has more than 8000 signature.

Ms Hartshorn hopes the day will be rolled out in Oxford Street if it is approved.

She said: “It would give people a feeling of what the city should be like.

“Oxford Street would become much more attractive and pleasant in if it was pedestrianised.

“The decision by the council is disappointing and there has to be a better solution.”

Ms Hartshorn, who is mum to toddler Trissie, also said that the street is so polluted it is not somewhere she would recommend to people with children.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan originally proposed the idea in his manifesto for the 2016 Mayoral elections.

An initial consultation period for the plans was opened by Transport for London (TfL) in November 2017 and closed on January 3 this year.

Transport for London (TfL) claimed that the results revealed that 64 percent of people showed outright or partial support for pedestrianisation of the street.

The deadline for the consultation period was then extended to April 6 when it emerged that responses from residents had not been recorded because TfL had given out incorrect email address.

Responses to the consultation said that many residents in Marylebone, Fitzrovia and Mayfair are concerned that diverted buses, cabs and delivery vans will create gridlock on nearby roads.

Ms Hartshorn said that this was a worry she understood but added: “There needs to be careful consideration to prevent displacement of pollution.”