Capital punishment for diesel drivers?

Air pollution is a enormous dilemma for the UK.

So huge a difficulty has it grow 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 problem, Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, is organizing to make central London an Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ). That would imply that diesel drivers who venture into the capital could discover themselves getting to stump up an added charge on best of the congestion charge.

2020 vision

Despite the fact that there are calls for the adjustments to come into force sooner, the program is to implement the ULEZ by 2020. And exactly where London leads, other main towns and cities across the UK could effectively comply with.

This would produce districts in which all but the cleanest of engines would be penalised. Diesel vehicles that didn’t meet the needed Euro 6 standard – which comes into effect from January 2015 – would have to pay the fee.

Undesirable news if you drive a diesel, and a true kick in the particulates if you in fact bought a diesel on the back of it becoming portrayed as the a lot more eco-friendly selection.

Although diesels do make fewer CO2 emissions than petrol engines, the greater levels of particulates they spew out, particularly nitrogen oxide, make them a higher health risk.

This was something the Labour government failed to acknowledge when it overhauled car excise duty (VED) to offer you more affordable road tax on diesels, meaning men and women were horribly misinformed and bought into the myth of the eco-friendly diesel engine.

Has Boris got your back?

It will be of small solace to diesel owners that Boris Johnson is sympathetic to their plight. The Mayor of London mentioned: “I really feel sorry for them [diesel drivers]. It is a huge failure of government policy. Millions of individuals had been told that they were doing a decent thing by purchasing a diesel automobile.

“You have got to be reasonable and fair to men and women who are acquiring vehicles now. And they will be quite aggrieved if they are told they are going to face an extra charge to go by way of the centre of London. And you also require to take account of exactly where the business is.”

Pain in the gas

Unsurprisingly, the announcement that diesel drivers will sooner or later have to pay to drive in specific regions has not gone down effectively with motorists.

A survey of far more than 2,000 folks carried out by vehicle supermarket, Motorpoint, found 3-quarters (75%) of motorists wouldn’t be prepared to spend much more in taxes to assist nearby authorities meet European clean air targets.

Kevin Pratt, insurance coverage specialist at MoneySuperMarket said: “Motoring fees are higher sufficient as it is, so drivers won’t welcome any extra expenses, specifically if they have purchased a diesel car in the previous due to its supposed eco-friendliness.

“There are lots of ways to reduce the price of motoring even though, not least buying around for your car insurance and adjusting your driving style to save on fuel, and the alterations in legislation won’t take impact for a number of years yet so there is lots of time to consider changing your vehicle.”

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

Capital punishment for diesel drivers?