114 replies to this topic

[daveb47]

Older vehicles face £10 'toxicity' charge in central London

Mayor Sadiq Khan calls for "drastic changes" as air pollution is linked to 9,000 early deaths each year.

13:07, UK, Friday 17 February 2017
Sadiq Khan says 'drastic change' is needed to fight air pollution
Video: Sadiq Khan says the 'toxicity charge' will fight air pollution

Drivers of some of the oldest and most polluting vehicles will face an extra £10 charge for entering central London.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan said the "toxicity", or "T-charge", is essential as he announced his latest effort to crack down on pollution in the capital.

Vehicles will be charged if they do not meet Euro 4 emission standards, typically petrol and diesel cars registered before 2006.

Around 10,000 vehicles per weekday are expected to be charged when the charge is introduced on 23 October.
A diesel feul pump
Image Caption: Diesel-powered vehicles contribute greatly to air pollution

It will be imposed on top of the city's congestion charge, meaning it will cost £21.50 to drive one of the target vehicles in central London between 7am and 6pm on weekdays.

Mr Khan said: "It's staggering that we live in a city where the air is so toxic that many of our children are growing up with lung problems.

"If we don't make drastic changes now we won't be protecting the health of our families in the future."
The EU has given the UK a 'final warning' over pollution breaches
Image Caption: The EU has given the UK a 'final warning' over pollution breaches

As an example of London's pollution problems, one road in England's capital exceeded its allowed annual levels of nitrogen dioxide just five days into 2017.

Earlier this week the European Commission issued a "final warning" to the UK Government for repeated breaches of legal limits.

Pollutants - much of which come from traffic, particularly diesel vehicles - cause health problems such as asthma, heart and lung diseases and are also thought to affect children's health and development.

Air pollution is linked to 9,000 early deaths in the city each year.

Mr Khan called the T-charge the "toughest emission standard of any major city" and claimed it was overwhelmingly backed by Londoners because they wanted immediate action to tackle air pollution.

The mayor's ultimate goal is the world's first "ultra-low emission zone", which will charge more polluting cars, to come in from 2019, subjet to consultation.
Some 448 schools in London are in areas exceeding legal air quality levels
Image Caption: Pollutants cause health problems such as asthma, heart and lung diseases

Mr Khan, who last month issued the first-ever very high air pollution alert, repeated his call for the Government to bring in a national diesel scrappage fund and a new Clean Air Act.

He said the buses in the capital are being retrofitted to make them cleaner and from next year City Hall will stop buying diesel buses.
 

[robinmasters]

I wouldn't have guessed Sadiq Khan was a System of a Down fan. 

[richardthestag]

wouldn't drive in London is Sadiq fucking paid me to

[Captain Furious]

UK gets final warning from EU flunkies, quelle horreur

[dollywobbler]

UK gets final warning from EU flunkies, quelle horreur

 

Aye. Bloody EU, wanting us not to kill ourselves...

[SiC]

Yay! Means a large, fresh supply of pre-euro 4 chod will appear soon.

[FakeConcern]

I thought it was all the recently installed wood burning stoves causing smog in London now.

[Breadvan72]

DESTRUKTIVATE ORL DIZZELS NOWS.

 

 

Really, they are manky things.  [/pez Nazi]   As for the tenner for old cars, it might happen, but it might not, as it's been mooted before and nowt occurred.  Frankly, the C charge for all cars should be fifty quid or more a day, as London really is getting choked. OK, that will mean that hedge fund twats get to drive their about in their Maseratis because they give not a shit, but they and their oligarch chums muck up central London anyway, so we might as well charge them a bit more for doing so.   Also, enforce the C charge against the US and all the other Embassies that owe millions in back charges (claiming that it's a tax, rather than a charge, the gits).

[Junkman]

Older vehicles face £10 'toxicity' charge in central London

Mayor Sadiq Khan calls for "drastic changes" as air pollution is linked to 9,000 early deaths each year.
 

 

And ten quid makes them alive again?

He doesn't give a flying monkey about people biting the dust, but finally found a way to charge for air.

[Adrian_pt]

So far, not really big news. I've lived in central London for 7 years, always working within the Congestion Charge Zone, but I've never needed to drive within it when charging is in force. Don't envisage the need to, frankly. V

 

The slightly more irritating one is the introduction of the ULEZ in 2020, which is 24/7. Again, doesn't seem too bad given the relatively small geographical area covered. But if they want to extend it then frankly the only solution will be to buy something over 40 years old. Which I'm more than happy to do...

[alcyonecorporation]

Tax exempt stuff 'only' has to pay the congestion charge.

[xkjagnz]

I wouldn't have guessed Sadiq Khan was a System of a Down fan.

Had to look up the connection on wiki for that! Got it

[catsinthewelder]

I feel a bit sorry for the hundreds of tradesmen and couriers who will need to update their vans or shell out an extra £50pw to work.

I only drive into London when van driving and all of ours meet euro 5 so I'm not too fussed myself. Less vehicles in use might even make up for the road space that has been (sensibly) lost to the cycle superhighway.

[beko1987]

I thought it was already a thing tbh. Not that I ever want to drive in London as it is. Furthest I've been is Uxbridge... And that's bad enough

[Adrian_pt]

Driving in London is genuinely a lot of fun. At night, mind you. 

[meowdchina]

No mention of a public vote on this new charge then, which will only affect the poorer percentage of the population who cannot afford new cars.

And I thought it had already been established that the newer diesels caused more medical issues than the older ones due to particle size in exhaust gasses.

If London council is allowed to implement this how long will it be before the other cities start doing the same, no vote on the matter, just pay up. Thieving bastards. 

[Nibblet]

What can you say apart from bollocks to London.

[meowdchina]

What can you say apart from bollocks to London.

I could say a lot more but that would just turn into a rant .

Anyhoos I'm still celebrating the swearing in of Scott Pruitt over here, arses will be a twitching over the weekend.

The malt is going down well, too well in fact cos I've got to save some for when they show the door to that NASA fraudster Gavin Schmidt and that other asshole Michael Mann.

[capsuleboy]

I think most people assume the zone is much bigger than it is. You can still drive into almost all of place without going in the paying bit.
I am regularly at Kings Cross, Olympia, Islington and St Johns Wood, in my "old" 2007 Fiat diesel and never in the zone.
But I now think it will be my last diesel...

[Pillock]

Thankfully the tube is decent enough that you don't really want to drive into the actual, factual centre of London - and yeah, you can get around most of London without paying anyway. I think a lot of out-of-towners get the Congestion Zone and the LEZ confused which is where a lot of the outrage comes from.

 

 

Congestion zone is literally that bit in the middle that you don't want to go to anyway because it's 90% shops selling t-shirts with pictures of the Queen on, tourists taking photos of lampposts, and armed police. The LEZ is much more biggerer, but the new System Of A Down charge only applies to the current Congestion Charge bit.

[cros]

Driving in London is genuinely a lot of fun. At night, mind you.

I often have to drive through Central London after midnight and have found little to laugh with most roads being restricted to 20 mph even when there is very little other traffic. The frequent speed humps cause no mirth as I'm usually driving a leaf sprung 50's lorry. With no shock absorbers. Sometimes I let an Ambulance bounce past, must be a hoot if you're in the back.

[rantingYoof]

It surprised me the last time I was in that there London that you can technically drive to Euston station without going into the congestion zone. Like many people unfamiliar with London, I thought that as soon as you were within sight of any London skyline you were handing over hundreds of pounds...

[cros]

Easy fix, get rid of some of the inhabitants, mayor included. Points please.

[AngusToledo]

Cash generator thinly veiled as 'helping the city's health'.
I can see the diesel engine being relegated to history within the next twenty years - ultimately they're dirty bastards - there's no two ways about it.
SOC makes an interesting point - those bloody pellet burner things absolutely stink, and I would imagine the crap they spew into the atmosphere is highly carcinogenic. There are a few on our estate locally, and if I'm walking the dog and the wind is blowing in my direction, it's hard to avoid inhaling the fumes from them. I curse the damn things. Burning logs is different - natural product, and fumes less of a problem. Does anyone actually know what those fake wood pellet things are actually made from?

[forddeliveryboy]

Typical blunt instrument of blanket taxation which keeps the wealthy placated in their ignorance and hits the poorest hardest, while having a minimal effect on local air quality. But makes EU car companies wealthier.

The supposedly knowledgeable, eloquent and politically-correct would be up in arms if you tried to remove their beloved wood stoves from spending fossil fuel heated air (with added noxiousness) up the chimney, started digging up their roads to clear them of speed humps or placed a cap of size and power output on their shiny cars. Let alone reduced pension pot sizes and share prices by insisting on cleaned aircraft exhausts.

[forddeliveryboy]

Tel, those pellet boilers should be no more polluting than a well-fired stove working efficiently. But it's possible their efficiency and constant high temps are creating more nano-particulates than a typical log burner, which isn't healthy.

It's ironic that the old fella struggling to keep warm by his fire is subsidizing the wealthy family up the road in the big, poorly-insulated house who can afford £25k for a pellet burning system and which will be payed for and more over the coming years by the green levy on all our energy bills.

[Bren]

How the fuck does £10 a day stop people getting lung diseases? It does'nt but once again the cash cow that is the British working man is being milked again.

[daveb47]

but the new System Of A Down charge only applies to the current Congestion Charge bit.

 

For now......

[DodgeRover]

SOC makes an interesting point - those bloody pellet burner things absolutely stink, and I would imagine the crap they spew into the atmosphere is highly carcinogenic. There are a few on our estate locally, and if I'm walking the dog and the wind is blowing in my direction, it's hard to avoid inhaling the fumes from them. I curse the damn things. Burning logs is different - natural product, and fumes less of a problem. Does anyone actually know what those fake wood pellet things are actually made from?

Scrap and otherwise waste wood AFAIK

[DodgeRover]

For now......

I would lay money on it expanding to cover the area of the ULEZ then LEZ within a few years.