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Boris Johnson has said he accepts findings from scientists who said Oxford Street suffers the worst diesel fume pollution on earth.

The mayor had claimed in July that it was a “ludicrous urban myth” that levels of nitrogen dioxide - a harmful gas emitted by diesel engines - were higher on Oxford Street than anywhere else on the planet.

The West End’s premier shopping street is particularly prone to spikes in concentrations of nitrogen dioxide because of the huge numbers of buses and taxis shuttling up and down.

Mr Johnson was accused last month of trying to silence air pollution scientists at King’s College who had drawn attention to the problem.

The Mayor’s environment adviser Matthew Pencharz, had complained to the principal of King’s College about comments reportedly made by one of the university’s scientists.

Joan Walley, chairwoman of the Commons Environmental Audit Committee, wrote to Mr Johnson saying: “It would be regrettable if the important work of universities and others to advance our understanding of these air pollution challenges were undermined, or its results suppressed, because of fears over access to funding.”

The Mayor has now replied saying: “We are not disputing King’s College data.”

He also said: “I am therefore pleased to be able to reassure the committee categorically that Greater London Authority funding decisions are not influenced by King’s research nor the way in which it is presented.”

Ms Walley said last night: “The mayor’s reaction [to the scientists’ findings] was not to promise urgent action to ease the congestion and spare the lungs of London shoppers, but to criticise the scientists who conducted the research.

"We need greater public awareness of the air quality problem in London and the mayor should be going out of his way to encourage the widest possible public debate with input from the country’s leading scientific authorities on air pollution at King’s College.”

A spokesperson said: “The Mayor’s view has not changed - he has never disputed the King’s College data but has always been clear that this data was taken out of context and misrepresented.

"The claim that Oxford Street is the most polluted in the world was erroneous and the Mayor does not accept it. King’s College themselves agree that their data was misrepresented and reiterated this point to the London Assembly’s environment committee just last week.”