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 dilemma, Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, is organizing to make central London an Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ). That would mean that diesel drivers who venture into the capital could discover themselves obtaining to stump up an further charge on prime of the congestion charge.

2020 vision

Though there are calls for the alterations to come into force sooner, the strategy is to implement the ULEZ by 2020. And exactly where London leads, other key towns and cities across the UK could effectively comply with.

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

Negative news if you drive a diesel, and a actual kick in the particulates if you truly purchased a diesel on the back of it being portrayed as the far more eco-friendly selection.

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

This was one thing the Labour government failed to acknowledge when it overhauled automobile excise duty (VED) to offer more affordable road tax on diesels, which means people had been horribly misinformed and purchased 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 have been told that they had been doing a decent point by acquiring a diesel car.

“You have got to be reasonable and fair to individuals who are purchasing autos now. And they will be very aggrieved if they are told they are going to face an additional charge to go by way of the centre of London. And you also require to take account of exactly where the sector is.”

Discomfort in the gas

Unsurprisingly, the announcement that diesel drivers will sooner or later have to spend to drive in specific places has not gone down properly with motorists.

A survey of much more than 2,000 folks conducted by vehicle supermarket, Motorpoint, identified 3-quarters (75%) of motorists wouldn’t be ready to pay far more in taxes to aid local authorities meet European clean air targets.

Kevin Pratt, insurance professional at MoneySuperMarket said: “Motoring charges are high enough as it is, so drivers won’t welcome any further expenditures, particularly if they have purchased a diesel car in the previous due to its supposed eco-friendliness.

“There are lots of approaches to reduce the cost of motoring even though, not least buying around for your automobile insurance and adjusting your driving style to save on fuel, and the changes in legislation won’t take impact for a quantity of years yet so there is plenty of time to think about altering your automobile.”

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

Capital punishment for diesel drivers?