Stopped? Engine running? Lawbreaker!

Drivers who don’;t cut their engines when parked up aren’;t just wasting fuel: they’;re breaking the law and risk being fined! Sue Hayward investigates.

So there I was, parked up with my engine off, waiting for my daughter to come out of school, while the driver next to me kept his engine running.

Maybe he’;d spotted his own child on the way out and was keen to make a quick getaway?

But no, 15 minutes later, I was the first to drive away leaving him still sitting there with his engine growling away, making a racket, wasting fuel and polluting the environment.

Why? What’;s the point? Surely he wasn’;t so lazy he couldn’;t just turn a key in the ignition to cut the engine? 

Leaving an engine idling is an offence

“Stationary idling is an offence under section 42 of the Road Traffic Act 1988,” says Jeanette Miller, a motoring lawyer with Geoffrey Miller Solicitors. 

The Act enforces rule 123 of the Highway Code which states: “You must not leave a vehicle engine running unnecessarily while that vehicle is stationary on a public road.” 

And doing this can incur a £20 fixed-penalty fine under the Road Traffic (Vehicle Emissions) Regulations 2002.

Of course that doesn’;t mean you’;ve got to cut your engine at every red light: you are allowed to leave your engine running if you’;re stationary in traffic or diagnosing faults. 

Taxi torment

Some taxi drivers, however, seem to think they’;ve got their own set of rules.

Confused.com’;s content editor, Naphtalia Loderick, faced problems with noisy taxis in her last job when she needed early morning lifts while working 6am shifts in the depths of winter.

“My taxi would turn up early and sit outside my house for 10 to 15 minutes with its lights on and engine running,” she says.

“I had to get up even earlier simply to go out and ask them to cut the engine. 

“They seemed oblivious to the noise, let alone the environmental pollution they were causing.”

Private land exemption

The rules over stationary idling apply to public roads so would not cover the case of my idling driver in the school car park. 

But if you’;re caught idling on the street, it could prove costly.

“The fixed penalty for a stationary idling offence is £20 and can double if unpaid,” says Miller.

Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) are issued by councils rather than the police.

Islington Council in London recently mounted what’;s thought to be the first crackdown of its kind on vehicles churning out “unnecessary pollution”. 

Driver education

Enforcement officers are out on the roads in north London tackling hotspots to educate drivers about the advantages of turning off their engine.

“An idling engine can release as much pollution into the air as a moving one,” says Islington councillor Claudia Webbe.

“Cutting the engine while stationary reduces both the harmful pollutants being released and saves on fuel.” 

Turn off engine for waits more then one minute

“Engines should be turned off for waits of more than one minute,” says Professor Stephen Glaister, director of the RAC Foundation.

You can then turn it back on without using the accelerator, which uses almost no fuel in the process, he adds.

“Between 5-8% of fuel use occurs while idling,” says Professor Glaister. 

Based on the average annual fuel bill of £1,600, this means wasting more than £100 a year as well as affecting air quality.

Some manufacturers like Volkswagen now offer ‘stop-start’; technology as an option on new vehicles.

This means the engine automatically cuts as you come to a standstill and restarts when you apply the clutch. 

Compare car insurance – you could find a great deal in minutes Get a car insurance quote

Stopped? Engine running? Lawbreaker!

Stopped? Engine running? Lawbreaker!

Drivers who never reduce their engines when parked up are not just wasting fuel: they’;re breaking the law and risk becoming fined! Sue Hayward investigates.

So there I was, parked up with my engine off, waiting for my daughter to come out of college, although the driver next to me kept his engine running.

Maybe he’;d spotted his personal youngster on the way out and was keen to make a quick getaway?

But no, 15 minutes later, I was the 1st to drive away leaving him nonetheless sitting there with his engine growling away, creating a racket, wasting fuel and polluting the atmosphere.

Why? What’;s the point? Surely he wasn’;t so lazy he could not just turn a crucial in the ignition to cut the engine? 

Leaving an engine idling is an offence

“Stationary idling is an offence under section 42 of the Road Targeted traffic Act 1988,” says Jeanette Miller, a motoring lawyer with Geoffrey Miller Solicitors. 

The Act enforces rule 123 of the Highway Code which states: “You must not leave a vehicle engine running unnecessarily whilst that car is stationary on a public road.” 

And undertaking this can incur a £20 fixed-penalty fine beneath the Road Traffic (Vehicle Emissions) Regulations 2002.

Of course that doesn’;t mean you’;ve got to cut your engine at each red light: you are permitted to leave your engine running if you are stationary in targeted traffic or diagnosing faults. 

Taxi torment

Some taxi drivers, however, appear to believe they’;ve got their own set of guidelines.

Confused.com’;s content material editor, Naphtalia Loderick, faced issues with noisy taxis in her final job when she needed early morning lifts even though operating 6am shifts in the depths of winter.

“My taxi would turn up early and sit outdoors my house for 10 to 15 minutes with its lights on and engine running,” she says.

“I had to get up even earlier just to go out and ask them to reduce the engine. 

“They seemed oblivious to the noise, let alone the environmental pollution they have been causing.”

Private land exemption

The guidelines over stationary idling apply to public roads so would not cover the case of my idling driver in the college vehicle park. 

But if you are caught idling on the street, it could prove expensive.

“The fixed penalty for a stationary idling offence is £20 and can double if unpaid,” says Miller.

Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) are issued by councils rather than the police.

Islington Council in London recently mounted what is thought to be the initial crackdown of its sort on autos churning out “unnecessary pollution”. 

Driver education

Enforcement officers are out on the roads in north London tackling hotspots to educate drivers about the positive aspects of turning off their engine.

“An idling engine can release as considerably pollution into the air as a moving 1,” says Islington councillor Claudia Webbe.

“Cutting the engine although stationary reduces both the dangerous pollutants becoming released and saves on fuel.” 

Turn off engine for waits more then a single minute

“Engines should be turned off for waits of much more than one minute,” says Professor Stephen Glaister, director of the RAC Foundation.

You can then turn it back on with no using the accelerator, which makes use of nearly no fuel in the method, he adds.

“Among 5-8% of fuel use occurs even though idling,” says Professor Glaister. 

Based on the typical annual fuel bill of £1,600, this indicates wasting a lot more than £100 a year as properly as affecting air high quality.

Some companies like Volkswagen now offer you ‘stop-start’; technology as an choice on new automobiles.

This indicates the engine automatically cuts as you come to a standstill and restarts when you apply the clutch. 

Examine vehicle insurance coverage – you could discover a excellent deal in minutes Get a car insurance quote

Stopped? Engine running? Lawbreaker!

Are we running out of petrol stations?

Standard roadside petrol stations and pubs have a lot in typical.

They both sell pricey liquids whose value is inflated by the addition of whopping amounts of duty and value added tax that flows straight to the Inland Income.

They both face stiff competitors from supermarkets, who undercut them on price tag, often promoting their product as a loss leader to get folks into the shop.

And they are each reducing in number at an alarming price, especially in rural places.

Broken Hertford

But not just rural locations. Take Hertford, county town of (you guessed it) Hertfordshire, situated just 21 miles north of Trafalgar Square. Less than 10 years ago there have been 2 petrol stations inside a 5-iron of the town hall. Now there are none.

And they’ve not even been replaced by supermarket forecourts. The town could be ‘blessed’ with a Sainsbury and a Tesco (along with a Waitrose and M&S – we like our groceries in Hertford) but neither of them has the space nor the inclination to start selling fuel.

So if you live in Hertford and want to refuel your auto, you’ve got to head out to a mad-busy service station 3 miles away on the A10, or drive to an adjacent town such as Welwyn or Stevenage.

Woe betide you the subsequent morning if you drive home on fumes 1 evening.

Closing time

British pubs are closing at a shocking rate – as several as 30 a week, according to some reports.

Thankfully, this blight has yet to afflict Hertford, but that’s probably only simply because most of the neighborhood boozers are tied to the town’s brewery, McMullen.

As for petrol stations – nationwide, independent petrol retailers are closing at the price of 250 a year according to the Petrol Retailers Association (PRA). The problem is at its worst in Wales, Scotland, East Anglia and England’s West Country.

Not working at the car wash

The circumstance is getting exacerbated by the loss of income from vehicle-wash facilities.

It appears we’re no longer willing to buy tokens for 1 of those (frankly, a bit scary) machines when we can pay a gang of strapping young lads down the road to do the job for us.

But it is the supermarkets which stay the principal target of PRA’s wrath. The trade physique reckons a common supermarket fuel outlet sells 11.3 million litres of fuel a year, whereas an independent retailer sells 2.1 million litres a year.

It says: “This figure equates to each and every hypermarket draining the complete volume of 5 independent internet sites out of a neighborhood region, resulting in a loss of jobs (an average independent forecourt gives up to 8 portion and complete time jobs), a loss of neighborhood facilities and decreased fuel resilience in the occasion of a crisis, such as the panic acquiring seen in March 2012.”

To address the dilemma, the PRA desires local and national government to limit the quantity of new supermarket forecourt openings by way of the planning application approach.

Market forces

I should confess to a lingering affection for non-supermarket petrol outlets. I even visited 1 in Norfolk recently where they come out of the workplace and fill your car up for you.

Same goes with conventional British pubs. Ask not for whom the bell tolls at closing time, and all that.

But most likely 4 instances out of 5 I fill up the car at a supermarket. And I don’t get to the pub half as often as I would like. So I’m performing little if anything to arrest the deep modifications taking place in these sectors.

Possibly market place forces are irresistible, and pubs and local garages are not immovable objects. Certainly appears that way.

We can only hope that when they’re all gone, the supermarkets do not use the reduction in competition to bump up the rates they discount at the moment.

But it would only serve us right if they did.

What do you reckon? Should some thing be accomplished to save our independent petrol retailers?

Are we running out of petrol stations?

Are we running out of petrol stations?

Conventional roadside petrol stations and pubs have a lot in typical.

They both sell pricey liquids whose price tag is inflated by the addition of whopping amounts of duty and value added tax that flows straight to the Inland Income.

They both face stiff competition from supermarkets, who undercut them on value, typically promoting their solution as a loss leader to get folks into the store.

And they are each lowering in quantity at an alarming price, especially in rural regions.

Broken Hertford

But not just rural regions. Take Hertford, county town of (you guessed it) Hertfordshire, situated just 21 miles north of Trafalgar Square. Much less than 10 years ago there had been 2 petrol stations inside a 5-iron of the town hall. Now there are none.

And they’ve not even been replaced by supermarket forecourts. The town may possibly be ‘blessed’ with a Sainsbury and a Tesco (along with a Waitrose and M&S – we like our groceries in Hertford) but neither of them has the area nor the inclination to start selling fuel.

So if you live in Hertford and want to refuel your vehicle, you have got to head out to a mad-busy service station 3 miles away on the A10, or drive to an adjacent town such as Welwyn or Stevenage.

Woe betide you the subsequent morning if you drive home on fumes 1 evening.

Closing time

British pubs are closing at a shocking rate – as a lot of as 30 a week, according to some reports.

Thankfully, this blight has but to afflict Hertford, but that is probably only because most of the regional boozers are tied to the town’s brewery, McMullen.

As for petrol stations – nationwide, independent petrol retailers are closing at the rate of 250 a year according to the Petrol Retailers Association (PRA). The dilemma is at its worst in Wales, Scotland, East Anglia and England’s West Country.

Not functioning at the auto wash

The circumstance is being exacerbated by the loss of income from car-wash facilities.

It seems we’re no longer willing to purchase tokens for 1 of these (frankly, a bit scary) machines when we can pay a gang of strapping young lads down the road to do the job for us.

But it is the supermarkets which stay the principal target of PRA’s wrath. The trade body reckons a typical supermarket fuel outlet sells 11.3 million litres of fuel a year, whereas an independent retailer sells 2.1 million litres a year.

It says: “This figure equates to every single hypermarket draining the complete volume of 5 independent web sites out of a neighborhood area, resulting in a loss of jobs (an typical independent forecourt provides up to 8 element and full time jobs), a loss of neighborhood facilities and decreased fuel resilience in the occasion of a crisis, such as the panic acquiring observed in March 2012.”

To address the issue, the PRA wants local and national government to limit the quantity of new supermarket forecourt openings by means of the arranging application approach.

Marketplace forces

I need to confess to a lingering affection for non-supermarket petrol outlets. I even visited 1 in Norfolk lately exactly where they come out of the office and fill your car up for you.

Exact same goes with traditional British pubs. Ask not for whom the bell tolls at closing time, and all that.

But almost certainly 4 times out of 5 I fill up the car at a supermarket. And I don’t get to the pub half as typically as I would like. So I’m carrying out small if anything to arrest the deep adjustments taking location in these sectors.

Maybe industry forces are irresistible, and pubs and nearby garages are not immovable objects. Undoubtedly appears that way.

We can only hope that when they’re all gone, the supermarkets don’t use the reduction in competition to bump up the costs they discount at the moment.

But it would only serve us right if they did.

What do you reckon? Should anything be completed to save our independent petrol retailers?

Are we running out of petrol stations?