Capital punishment for diesel drivers?

Air pollution is a huge difficulty for the UK.

So large a issue has it turn out to be that earlier this year the European Commission launched legal proceedings against the government for missing its air pollution targets.

In a bid to tackle the issue, Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, is arranging to make central London an Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ). That would imply that diesel drivers who venture into the capital could find themselves possessing to stump up an additional charge on prime of the congestion charge.

2020 vision

Though there are calls for the modifications to come into force sooner, the program is to implement the ULEZ by 2020. And exactly where London leads, other significant towns and cities across the UK could nicely follow.

This would generate districts in which all but the cleanest of engines would be penalised. Diesel cars that didn’t meet the required Euro 6 common – which comes into effect from January 2015 – would have to spend the fee.

Poor news if you drive a diesel, and a true kick in the particulates if you in fact purchased a diesel on the back of it getting portrayed as the more eco-friendly option.

Even though diesels do generate fewer CO2 emissions than petrol engines, the larger levels of particulates they spew out, specifically nitrogen oxide, make them a higher health danger.

This was one thing the Labour government failed to acknowledge when it overhauled car excise duty (VED) to offer cheaper road tax on diesels, meaning individuals have been horribly misinformed and bought into the myth of the eco-friendly diesel engine.

Has Boris got your back?

It will be of little solace to diesel owners that Boris Johnson is sympathetic to their plight. The Mayor of London stated: “I really feel sorry for them [diesel drivers]. It is a massive failure of government policy. Millions of people had been told that they have been performing a decent issue by purchasing a diesel automobile.

“You have got to be reasonable and fair to folks who are acquiring automobiles now. And they will be very aggrieved if they are told they are going to face an additional charge to go through the centre of London. And you also want to take account of exactly where the industry is.”

Discomfort in the gas

Unsurprisingly, the announcement that diesel drivers will sooner or later have to pay to drive in certain areas has not gone down well with motorists.

A survey of a lot more than 2,000 men and women conducted by automobile supermarket, Motorpoint, located 3-quarters (75%) of motorists wouldn’t be prepared to pay a lot more in taxes to help regional authorities meet European clean air targets.

Kevin Pratt, insurance coverage professional at MoneySuperMarket mentioned: “Motoring expenses are high adequate as it is, so drivers will not welcome any added expenditures, especially if they have purchased a diesel auto in the past due to its supposed eco-friendliness.

“There are a lot of ways to reduce the cost of motoring although, not least purchasing about for your vehicle insurance coverage and adjusting your driving style to save on fuel, and the changes in legislation won’t take effect for a number of years but so there is plenty of time to contemplate changing your vehicle.”

What do you make of the London ULEZ proposals? A very good idea for cleaner air or just one more stealth tax? Let us know…

Capital punishment for diesel drivers?