Time to let old diesels die?

Got an old diesel auto? Recycle and replace it with a newer car and you might quickly be in a position to claim a a single-off £100 payment from the government.

Well, you will if motoring body the RAC and car recycling specialist Remove My Automobile get their way.

The 2 organizations are calling on the government to take action to boost the air good quality in the UK by incentivising folks with extremely polluting diesel automobiles to scrap them and invest in newer models.

They want it to provide £100 for any motorist who recycles a diesel vehicle aged 10 years or older.

Remove My Car’s Steve Queen mentioned: “We’ve seen in the past that scrappage incentives do function, and we’re confident that financially incentivising motorists to scrap their old diesel vehicles will help to drive down the high emission levels that we’re currently suffering from.”

Some thing in the air

Breathing in dirty air is thought to kill about 30,000 individuals in the UK each year, although study indicates that the poor top quality of the air in Britain shortens life expectancy at birth by 6 months.

That’s a single of the motives the UK has a target to slash its greenhouse gas emissions by 80% (from 1990 levels) by 2050.

There is still a extended way to go, although – and motorists are amongst the main contributors to dirty air in Britain’s cities due to the emission of dangerous gases such as nitrogen oxide, which has links to lung cancer, asthma, diabetes and heart troubles.

Down the Smoke…

London in particular has really high levels of nitrogen dioxide, which is emitted by old diesel powered automobiles that frequently throw clouds of fine black dust from the exhaust when accelerating.

And with about a single in 3 British motorists driving a diesel car, it has been estimated that removing the particles from the air will have a larger effect than eliminating all road traffic accident deaths, or deaths from passive smoking.

This is regardless of the fact that contemporary diesel cars truly emit fewer dangerous gases than equivalent petrol models.

Taking action

The environmental influence of all the older diesel automobiles on Britain’s roads prompted the RAC Foundation to commence calling for an incentivised scrappage scheme aimed at encouraging drivers to swap their old diesel vehicles for newer, cleaner vehicles earlier this month.

Now, its campaign has been joined by Get rid of My Automobile, which hopes to persuade the government to add £100 to the immediate quote provided by its site for all those hunting to recycle diesel cars that are more than 10 years old.

“The option is waiting for these old diesel automobiles to turn into unroadworthy, but that could take a lot of years,” Queen said.

“We look forward to speaking to the Government on the problem of harmful diesels and hopefully we can perform with each other to combat this.”

Ton of problems

The only dilemma is that, even if the government agrees to stump up the cash, £100 may possibly not prove adequate to persuade money-strapped drivers to trade in their old cars offered the cost of getting a not too long ago-built or new auto.

Time to let old diesels die?