Capital punishment for diesel drivers?

Air pollution is a huge issue for the UK.

So massive a problem 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 uncover themselves possessing to stump up an additional charge on prime of the congestion charge.

2020 vision

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

This would create districts in which all but the cleanest of engines would be penalised. Diesel autos that didn’t meet the essential Euro 6 regular – which comes into impact from January 2015 – would have to pay the charge.

Negative 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 being portrayed as the much more eco-friendly selection.

Despite the fact that diesels do make fewer CO2 emissions than petrol engines, the larger levels of particulates they spew out, especially nitrogen oxide, make them a greater wellness risk.

This was anything the Labour government failed to acknowledge when it overhauled automobile excise duty (VED) to offer you less costly road tax on diesels, meaning people 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 mentioned: “I really feel sorry for them [diesel drivers]. It is a massive failure of government policy. Millions of individuals have been told that they were undertaking a decent point by acquiring a diesel car.

“You have got to be affordable and fair to folks who are getting autos now. And they will be quite aggrieved if they are told they are going to face an additional charge to go by means of the centre of London. And you also need to have to take account of where the business is.”

Discomfort in the gas

Unsurprisingly, the announcement that diesel drivers will sooner or later have to spend to drive in certain locations has not gone down nicely with motorists.

A survey of far more than 2,000 individuals conducted by auto supermarket, Motorpoint, found 3-quarters (75%) of motorists wouldn’t be ready to pay much more in taxes to help neighborhood authorities meet European clean air targets.

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

“There are a lot of ways to cut the expense of motoring even though, not least buying about for your automobile insurance and adjusting your driving style to save on fuel, and the modifications in legislation won’t take impact for a number of years however so there is plenty of time to think about changing your automobile.”

What do you make of the London ULEZ proposals? A great idea for cleaner air or just another stealth tax? Let us know…

Capital punishment for diesel drivers?