ULEZ

[sierraman]

And you're quite right. But due to rubbish TV, government/media lies and smokescreens etc a very large proportion of the population just can't see what's happening. Or they don't care.

 

 

 

They fucking well will in 10 years time though. When they're 40 years old with a wife, two kids, a never ending mortgage to some abysmal Barratt home that's already falling to bits and you spend 20% of your life in a Renault Craptur commuting to some job that pays just enough to cover your bills. This is is gonna be some place your kidz will inherit.

 

Personally, if I had kids under 8, I'd be fucking off out of the UK now. I don't so I can stay here to the bitter end!

My sentiments exactly. It’s becoming a situation where the government controls your spending by ensuring everyone is financed up to the hilt and getting paid fuck all. That way In the eyes of the government you’ll keep your head down, terrified of being evicted or whatever so you’ll be compliant with whatever ‘rules’ they bring out.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Hold on a minute guys...

 

A Euro 5 petrol car is post 2005. When the ULEZ expansion comes in in 2021 those cars will be 16 years old. And if you're brave, pre 1981 cars will also be exempt.

 

Sounds alright to me really. That encompasses a reasonable amount of sub £1000 chod. I know I won't have any trouble finding a car I want and can afford. When is there ever a shortage of cars to buy?

 

 

 

You're right, I've just checked. Not as grim as I thought then!

[SiC]

Hold on a minute guys...

 

A Euro 5 petrol car is post 2005. When the ULEZ expansion comes in in 2021 those cars will be 16 years old. And if you're brave, pre 1981 cars will also be exempt.

 

Slight correction, it's euro 4 petrol that is ULEZ compliant - that's roughly 2005 on. Euro 5 is post 2009.

 

https://www.london.gov.uk/press-releases/mayoral/ulez-will-start-in-2019-to-tackle-toxic-air

 

For all those fretting on here about needing new and expensive cars, there are cars on here that already are eligible for ULEZ are for sale under £600... (Or was until roffled out)

http://autoshite.com/topic/33098-peugeot-107-not-sally-thomsetts-knicker-drawer-20-lb-all-tickets-gone

 

 

Nothing wrong at all with getting rid of filthy diesels in high population density areas imo.

[rusty998]

I`m not being mean, I`m just fed up of self-righteous cyclists who can't see past the end of their noses thinking their solution is the only way forward, many of whom don't have families to deal with, many of whom have never done a `proper` blue collar job, having never done `proper` hours, having to commute half the distance many of us have to. You say anything against cycling or a cyclists behaviour on Twitter & you`ll quickly have 20-50 lycra clad, Mini Holland loving tossers jumping down your throat.

Single occupancy cars doesn't necessarily mean some ignorant selfish pricks driving it, it means at that stage you can only see 1 person in a car. You dont know whats in the boot, neither do you know what they're on their way to do.

Due to the costs & stress in city driving now, very few people drive in London for the fun of it. People who could cycle &/or use public transport, generally do, those that cant, dont, & drive, paying severely to do so, but thats still not good enough for some.

There's also the time constraints with public transport. it's not unusual for you to have to get 2 or even 3 busses to do a 7 mile commute, often taking 3 times the length of time as using a car, even factoring in traffic. Same with the tube, wanna go 10 miles round the edge of London on a tube? No, you have to get one into a central station, then go out on another line, sometimes with another tube in the middle between the 2 stations, again, taking an inordinate amount of time. Time many working Londoners, especially those with families, just don't have. And then theres a severe lack of tube coverage in south London..

London is spoilt for public transport in many respects, but for a city with so many residents who are having to commute further & further, it's just not working as well as it did/does on paper, especially if you have a family & don't want to spend 2-4 hours a day commuting. People need a life balance, or there's no point.

There's loads of working class parents who are out the door at 6-7am, not seeing their kids in the morning, commuting for 60-90 minutes into work, significantly more if house prices & rents have pushed them out to the home counties, doing a full day, not getting home till 7-9pm by which time they're exhausted. The kids have had no one watching over them & many get into all kinds of trouble or fall behind educationally because of it, they invariably don't get a proper, home cooked meal (later leading to obesity & other assorted health issues, putting pressure on the NHS). Is this life?

It's all very well pointing fingers at cars for all of society's ills, but the whole British way of lifes been getting increasingly fukt over the last 40 years in so many different ways, increased traffic, especially in London, is just one of many side effects. And it was entirely predictable. Maybe if the entire UK's manufacturing sector hadnt been spunked away so easily & completely, maybe there wouldn't be such a massive influx of Brits having to move to the south east, overwhelming the roads, as well as the NHS & public transport, pushing up housing costs to the point of it not being feasible, which, like an ever decreasing circle, causes more people to move to the home counties & then commute in even further..

The idiocy of the whole situation blows my mind. 

And now we`ve got Brexit, which is quite possibly going to cause a fair number of the remaining global manufacturing companies with plants in the UK (& NOT in south east) to do the off. Then what?

The Specials had it right, this town, is coming like a ghost town.. And when I say town, I mean the entire UK. Apart from London. London will have to be entirely covered by 150 floor blocks to house everyone moving here in search of jobs that wouldn't pay enough to live within 50 miles of them anyway, with everyone doing a 6 hour each way commute on a sea of electric scooters doing 2.5mph...

As I said, I was with them when it was going to affect diesels, because I know the science behind it & how catastrophic diesel fumes are to life, petrol is very much the lesser of 2 evils to human health. Not ideal, but much better. But then they moved the goal posts, at that point I said I`m out..

On top of that there's the fact 1.6 million perfectly serviceable cars that`ll have to replaced, many being scrapped for no good reason. Many will be replaced with PCP/contracted cars that get replaced every 2-3 years. What's that going to do to the environment globally? More raw materials, more manufacturing energy used, more multi-level transportation, of raw materials & finally finished vehicles. And that's for vehicles that are unlikely to last as long as the vehicles that have been scrapped.. And people just don't look after PCP cars like they do their own, reducing their working lives even further.

And personally the worst tangible pollution I actually smell on a daily basis is from diesel 4x4`s & people carriers, many of them less than a few years old, & they aren't affected by all this bollocks.

Christ. Have I gone off on enough tangents? Painted a bleak enough picture? I knew I shouldn't have had a shandy with my dinner..

My mouse is hovering over the "Post" button....Should I post this? Sod it, I'll post it.. Most people won't bother reading a quarter of what I said anyway..

I read all of it, and can relate to your post,

I live about two i'sh miles from Heathrow airport, and have been travelling in to London for 30 years or so, the first 20 years of this was supplying and fitting glass on busses, coaches and later the Met Police, so using a cycle or public transport was never going to happen, I no longer fit glass due to my back being ruined from lifting said windscreens and glass,

I have of recent years been painting and decorating with my Mates Father, he lives and works around the Dulwich area of sarf East London, A journey of 16 miles one way, I start at 8am and for me to be on time I have to leave the house at 6am, I often arrive early 7-7:30 am, I carry tools, paint and consumables with just me in the car, getting home after finishing at 4pm (don't stop for lunch) can take anywhere from 1 hour 20 minutes to the extreme of 4 hour's!

My family want me to come home in one piece so no moped or cycling for me,

It's hard to commute every day as it is,

ULEZ will put an end to my work as I'm the only one who works at home and keeping the roof over our heads is just about doable, I don't have the funds to lease a car on top of that too!

[Dave_Q]

 

 

Hold on a minute guys...

 

A Euro 5 petrol car is post 2005. When the ULEZ expansion comes in in 2021 those cars will be 16 years old. And if you're brave, pre 1981 cars will also be exempt.

 

Sounds alright to me really. That encompasses a reasonable amount of sub £1000 chod. I know I won't have any trouble finding a car I want and can afford. When is there ever a shortage of cars to buy?...

 

And another thing. Loads of people DO drive in London simply because they're too lazy to walk/ride a bike/get a bus/whatever. I get that not everyone has a choice, and I'm not perfect, but some people just prefer sitting in their cars, even if they're not going anywhere. Air con/stereo etc. They'll admit it...

Must disagree slightly on the first point, I reckon that the brave pills will be required for a 16 year old euro 4/5 modernbanger, a late 70s/early 80s car will be a breeze to own provided one can weld.

 

If I lived in or near this zone I would be getting a "historic" car and/or motorbike and spend the next few years getting it ready for daily service.

 

Do fully agree on the last point, its not being a "self righteous cyclist" to point out that 99% of single occupancy cars are carrying nothing more than one person, a laptop and a sandwich and these journeys should be done on 2 wheels where possible, whether that is human, petrol or electric powered.

 

I'm as guilty as anyone of that, I live 5 miles from work and own various pushbikes, how I actually get to work is normally in the car 3 or 4 days a week and my motorbike the other.

 

I don't think you can legislate people out of cars when the alternative is so shit. Public transport is just wank, in fact I've just been on the bus for my usual journey to work and it cost twice as much and took over twice as long. The train would be even worse, as there's no direct service.

 

If however, I could buy an electric scooter with free tax, minimal insurance, pennies to charge, for a reasonable price (which apparently is what the primary mode of transport is in big cities in China) you can be sure I would ride that to work most days as it would be cheaper and quicker.

 

Legislation won't work, just make the alternative less shit.

[tooSavvy]

Bad News.... For jobs in Consett - iron foundry closure.

 

But, silver lining, great - lung filling - clean air!

 

*horticulturist moaning the clean air means they get bugs on their roses..

 

MORAL ? Can't please everyone, eh

[Cavcraft]

I`m not being mean, I`m just fed up of self-righteous cyclists who can't see past the end of their noses thinking their solution is the only way forward, many of whom don't have families to deal with, many of whom have never done a `proper` blue collar job, having never done `proper` hours, having to commute half the distance many of us have to. You say anything against cycling or a cyclists behaviour on Twitter & you`ll quickly have 20-50 lycra clad, Mini Holland loving tossers jumping down your throat.

 

Single occupancy cars doesn't necessarily mean some ignorant selfish pricks driving it, it means at that stage you can only see 1 person in a car. You dont know whats in the boot, neither do you know what they're on their way to do.

 

Due to the costs & stress in city driving now, very few people drive in London for the fun of it. People who could cycle &/or use public transport, generally do, those that cant, dont, & drive, paying severely to do so, but thats still not good enough for some.

 

 

What you might want to remember is that if all those 'self righteous' cyclists decided to drive to work, you're journey as well as your air quality would be hundreds time worse.

 

Ps: I'm sure there's not a hint of irony in your comments about single occupancy cars, coupled with your assumptions about cyclists not having a family or a 'proper' job.

[Dave_Q]

Also, its not a badge of honour to have to commute 2 hours each way to work 10 hours in your "proper blue collar job" to support your family.

 

It's a sign that the system is fucked.

[rusty998]

Slight correction, it's euro 4 petrol that is ULEZ compliant - that's roughly 2005 on. Euro 5 is post 2009. https://www.london.gov.uk/press-releases/mayoral/ulez-will-start-in-2019-to-tackle-toxic-air

For all those fretting on here about needing new and expensive cars, there are cars on here that already are eligible for ULEZ are for sale under £600... (Or was until roffled out)http://autoshite.com/topic/33098-peugeot-107-not-sally-thomsetts-knicker-drawer-20-lb-all-tickets-gone

Nothing wrong at all with getting rid of filthy diesels in high population density areas imo.

My son has a 10 reg 107 and is ULEZ compliant, It is also T charge compliant but I would if using his car still have to pay the congestion charge at £14 a day,

£70 a week, £280 a month and £3,640 a year, that's is to much for me, so a new leased BMW i3 would have to be my mode of transport, and I have no idea how much that would be ££££££££????????

[Dave_Q]

I'm sure its just a coincidence that the upshot of all these clean air zones is that most people will get new cars on tick.

[uk_senator]

A Euro 5 petrol car is post 2005. When the ULEZ expansion comes in in 2021 those cars will be 16 years old. And if you're brave, pre 1981 cars will also be exempt.

 

Sounds alright to me really. That encompasses a reasonable amount of sub £1000 chod. I know I won't have any trouble finding a car I want and can afford. When is there ever a shortage of cars to buy?

 

And it's not as if all the non ULEZ compliant cars will be immediately scrapped. Most of them will have left London in advance of the change anyway - people are gearing up already. The non compliant cars will still be perfectly usable outside of London.

 

I got cross when I first heard about it but at the end of the day I'm really not that bothered. Obvs it's not a perfect solution, but they have to do something.

 

And another thing. Loads of people DO drive in London simply because they're too lazy to walk/ride a bike/get a bus/whatever. I get that not everyone has a choice, and I'm not perfect, but some people just prefer sitting in their cars, even if they're not going anywhere. Air con/stereo etc. They'll admit it...

Theres 2 types of Autoshitters, the type that just buy any old shitter, run it as long & as cheaply as possible, then weight it in & move on to the next one at the first sign of a big bill, then theres the type that get shite they love, get it up to scratch, & spend whatever it takes to keep it in tip top condition regardless of whether it outweighs the value of the car, with the intention of keeping it forever, or at least a decade or 3. You obviously fall into the former category, I fall into the latter, & my fleet reflects that, my cars are my only real hobby & are pretty much everything I own, & I suffer for my passion, believe me. So being told that I have to chop in my entire fleet whether I like it or not, doesn't sit well at all, unsurprisingly..

 

There are no cars post 2001 that I `want`, My passion is mid 80`s to early 90`s shite, again, my fleet reflects that, and as much as I`d like to, I doubt I'll have the time or money to convert any of my shitters to electric, so I`ll have to go the other route, get pre 82 shite, which is more polluting than the shite I`m running now. Ridiculous, but that's the corner I`m being backed into. 

 

A tiny percentage probably do drive because they're too `lazy`, but who deems whats lazy or not? Should people have to lose an extra hour or 2 of their days commuting in an effort to not be seen as being `lazy`? And there's people who cant do public transport for physical or mental reasons that may not be immediately obvious to a casual observer.

 

Maybe everyone who`s retired or single OAP`s living in 3-4 bedroom houses should be forced to move out of London to make room for those having to suffer the barely tolerable commutes & families forced into too small flats? How far do you want to go?

 

The law of unintended consequences

 

A whole industry been building up round retro shite in London over the last decade, God knows what those businesses are gonna do now.

 

 

Slight correction, it's euro 4 petrol that is ULEZ compliant - that's roughly 2005 on. Euro 5 is post 2009.

 

https://www.london.gov.uk/press-releases/mayoral/ulez-will-start-in-2019-to-tackle-toxic-air

 

For all those fretting on here about needing new and expensive cars, there are cars on here that already are eligible for ULEZ are for sale under £600... (Or was until roffled out)

 

Nothing wrong at all with getting rid of filthy diesels in high population density areas imo.

 

I know I can but a whole host of eligible shite for peanuts, that's not the point. It's about peoples genuinely loved shite being forced away from them. I`d have a fair purse if I sold my fleet of shite, & I`d save a fortune in road tax, I`d probably enough to buy a new or nearly new supermini as a result, do I want one? Not in the slightest.

 

Am I throwing my toys out the pram? Possibly, but so might you if the shite you love was taken from you..

 

Personally, I hate diesels due to the health implications. I won't lose any sleep over them going.

 

I read all of it, and can relate to your post,

I live about two i'sh miles from Heathrow airport, and have been travelling in to London for 30 years or so, the first 20 years of this was supplying and fitting glass on busses, coaches and later the Met Police, so using a cycle or public transport was never going to happen, I no longer fit glass due to my back being ruined from lifting said windscreens and glass,

I have of recent years been painting and decorating with my Mates Father, he lives and works around the Dulwich area of sarf East London, A journey of 16 miles one way, I start at 8am and for me to be on time I have to leave the house at 6am, I often arrive early 7-7:30 am, I carry tools, paint and consumables with just me in the car, getting home after finishing at 4pm (don't stop for lunch) can take anywhere from 1 hour 20 minutes to the extreme of 4 hour's!

My family want me to come home in one piece so no moped or cycling for me,

It's hard to commute every day as it is,

ULEZ will put an end to my work as I'm the only one who works at home and keeping the roof over our heads is just about doable, I don't have the funds to lease a car on top of that too!

I can empathise, I have arthritis due to years of mechanics, if I stand in 1 position for more than 5-10 minutes, my back starts seizing, & can go into spasm. For this reason, standing waiting for busses/tubes, then having to stand during the journey, trying to balance, is a no go for me.. Is it immediately apparent to casual observers? No. Am I registered as disabled? No to both, but people will still pass judgement when I opt to use a car instead of using public transport, thats aside from the amount of stuff I carry..

 

Same with my kids Mum, medical problems, including a feked knee means public transport is very awkward (although she still does it when she`s able), & she has to commute from Dagenham to Tottenham, which means she's up at 5am, out the door by 6:15, to get in at 8am, then she doesn't get home till 7-8pm, 6 days a week. Ironically our flat was in Tottenham, but she had to move out to Dagen-narm because she couldn't afford to get a bigger place for the kids to have any quality of life (even though they still have bedrooms the size of most peoples stair cupboards), so she`s added to commuter numbers because of stupid property prices. Is all that immediately obvious to a casual observer? No, Is she registered `disabled`? No..but again, they'll still pass judgement..

 

My Dads an ex-biker, he got knocked off several times when commuting in London & nearly died after one particular hit. Mum stopped him after that one in the 80`s & he still has knee problems because of it. But then he started again in the early 2000`s after they stopped him taking the van home. He got a 125 Yamaha CB & commuted from Palmers Green to Mayfair & back 6 days a week (5:30am start, 4-5pm finish, so coming back in rush hour, this was when he was in his 60`s). Unsurprisingly, this terrified my Mum.. He got knocked off a couple more times, luckily light hits, & slid out a few times in bad weather, but was then made redundant & stopped biking, to all of our relief. 

 

I`ve got a couple of pushbikes, if I'm honest I rarely use them because my area`s not great for cycling & I rarely have time.  Also got an electric moped a few years ago, after doing about 10 journeys I decided it just wasn't for me, mainly because I hated not being able to hear properly with a helmet on, plus I got fed up with cars/vans up my jaxy because I couldn't do more than 32mph, significantly less if there was a hill... Its still sitting in the back garden, with now knackered batteries.

 

You`ll find theres tens of thousands of people with stories like these in London. , many don't have any problem superficially, but as I say, people will still pass judgement & criticize them, especially online.

 

 

 

What you might want to remember is that if all those 'self righteous' cyclists decided to drive to work, you're journey as well as your air quality would be hundreds time worse.

 

Ps: I'm sure there's not a hint of irony in your comments about single occupancy cars, coupled with your assumptions about cyclists not having a family or a 'proper' job.

Yes, there is a hint of irony there, & my viewpoint is based on the Twitter profiles of the said rabidly anti-car cycle nazis who seem to spend 10 hours a day attacking drivers, often showing them to be middle class persons who have moved into London from the home counties, who mostly work largely from home doing exceptionally well paid, cushy white collar jobs, can afford to live in locations that allow them to quickly & easily cycle to commute when they have to/feel like it, & be able to take "Tarquin & Apple" to school in the next street. The vast majority of Londoners don't have those advantages/privileges & barely have time to see their kids or cook a decent meal, let alone cycle 15 miles to & from work..

 

If you want to live in a cycle friendly place, move to a quaint little town in the country, or Milton Keynes, dont come to a massive city where the architecture doesn't lend itself to transport in general, that's packed to the gills with people who are massively busy, & then force councils to spunk hundreds of billions of pounds on unnecessary, ill thought out cycle lanes that ultimately cause more traffic, pollution & stress, when we apparently don't have enough money in the kitty to deal with the NHS, Policing, or repairing/maintaining the roads that are already there..

 

Also, its not a badge of honour to have to commute 2 hours each way to work 10 hours in your "proper blue collar job" to support your family.

 

It's a sign that the system is fucked.

Absolutely. And getting worse year after year.

[vaughant]

I've said for many years that they want to price "normal" folk out of London, there's even a video online showing you how you can swap your Cannncill flat on some God awful tower block in a tough area for a lovely* 3 bed house elsewhere in Britain.

 

As for cycling it's getting a bit beyond a joke now.

 

I used to cycle in every day come rain or shine between about 2000-2005 and it was extremely unfashionable then, seemed to be the reserve of banned drivers and single car families then (or tightwads like me).

 

After the Lannnnndaaann Olympics and Wiggins success its got totally out of hand, the roads seemed more clogged now with 10mph cyclists than they ever were years ago.

 

Now you're looked upon as some sort of massive burden on society if you don't cycle into work as it's seen as a great* way of keeping fit. Which it is, if you do more than ten minutes on the flat roads with electric assistance!!!

 

Please cyclists, don't look at everyone else as sloths just because we don't all do it, I did for years but now I work 120 miles from home,it's a bit unnecessary, same as cycling on the road when there's a perfectly good cycle path nearby, think a bit beyond the bubble and we'll all get on fine.

[rusty998]

As an experiment I put in my old 1600e reg RSN 932H,

It is classed as a historic vehicle so is exempt from the ULEZ,also from the T charge but still £14 a day would have to be spent on the congestion charge,

So the Mk2 cortina estate my father has stored for the last 20 years or so would be the same as if I drove my son's 2010 107,albeit with a £30 Road tax fee,

If it has a combustion engine you can't wiggle out of it, electric vehicles are exempt from all charges.

[Kiltox]

I feel a bit sorry for any one man band type tradesmen who forked out around £16,000 for a 2016/65 Citroen Relay who will find out their 3 year old van isn’t compliant

 

[Hawkeyethenoo]

Owning one of these would allow you to raise two fingers.

 

 

https://enduro21.com/index.php/40-general/2184-first-look-2018-ktm-250-300-exc-tpi-2-stroke-enduro

[beko1987]

I feel a bit sorry for any one man band type tradesmen who forked out around £16,000 for a 2016/65 Citroen Relay who will find out their 3 year old van isn’t compliant

 

E26B5860-069C-4832-8E27-282B2E41B2C7.png

No don't be silly he'll be fine, look, it says he can walk or cycle... No excuse!

[HillmanImp]

Nothing helpful to add here (as usual) but this just topic title just makes me think of insulting friends by calling them Lesbians. 

 

[Marm Toastsmith]

Theres 2 types of Autoshitters, the type that just buy any old shitter, run it as long & as cheaply as possible, then weight it in & move on to the next one at the first sign of a big bill, then theres the type that get shite they love, get it up to scratch, & spend whatever it takes to keep it in tip top condition regardless of whether it outweighs the value of the car, with the intention of keeping it forever, or at least a decade or 3. You obviously fall into the former category,

 

My passion is mid 80`s to early 90`s shite

 

No, I'm the sort that typically buys a car I love as cheaply as possible, spends a fortune failing to get it up to scratch, and then sells it on for a huge loss a year or two later... I'm pretty sure I'm not alone on this forum!

 

I'm also into 80s/90s chod, and I've accepted that to follow my passion I need to get out of London. Here I can't afford a place with a driveway, let alone a garage, and driving in town is awful. So while the ULEZ is a pain in the arse, it's kind of the least of my worries.

 

 

Same with my kids Mum, medical problems, including a feked knee means public transport is very awkward (although she still does it when she`s able), & she has to commute from Dagenham to Tottenham, which means she's up at 5am, out the door by 6:15, to get in at 8am, then she doesn't get home till 7-8pm, 6 days a week. Ironically our flat was in Tottenham, but she had to move out to Dagen-narm because she couldn't afford to get a bigger place for the kids to have any quality of life (even though they still have bedrooms the size of most peoples stair cupboards), so she`s added to commuter numbers because of stupid property prices. Is all that immediately obvious to a casual observer? No, Is she registered `disabled`? No..but again, they'll still pass judgement..

middle class persons who have moved into London from the home counties, who mostly work largely from home doing exceptionally well paid, cushy white collar jobs, can afford to live in locations that allow them to quickly & easily cycle to commute when they have to/feel like it, & be able to take "Tarquin & Apple" to school in the next street. The vast majority of Londoners don't have those advantages/privileges & barely have time to see their kids or cook a decent meal, let alone cycle 15 miles to & from work..

 

 

All of this really depends on your point of view, and yours is a really interesting one by comparison to mine. I don't think we're that far apart, but in a way, we've got an "opposite" perspective on this. I was born in Edmonton, grew up in a nice (but dull) bit of Enfield, and live in Tottenham. I'm not a posh boy from the home counties, but I am a grammar school boy from the suburbs...

 

My family isn't rich by any stretch of the imagination, we (just) managed to get a mortgage here, we live in a small terraced house with a garden, but the truth is that the quality of life isn't that great - and sometimes I wished I lived in Essex...

 

The air is bad, the traffic is awful. My kids walk to school but breathe shitty air every day, and it's a frankly dangerous journey with all the roadworks and constant building works meaning pavements are narrow and closed etc... It's depressing. I ride a bike to work (dangerous but OK) and my wife gets the tube (a bit miserable, and expensive).

 

My instinct is to see those who commute from Dagenham to Tottenham every day by car as the enemy...

 

...But of course in reality it's more complicated than that.

 

For one thing some of my neighbours are the "lazy" fuckers I mentioned before. They drive their diesel Audis to school, which is a 10 minute walk. They also drive to their jobs, which are less than 5 miles away and would be easily done by public transport or bike. They admit that they can't be bothered to walk or get the tube. They'd rather drive to the gym to get their exercise than have to deal with the real world.

 

At the end of the day the real issue (as mentioned by others) is that normal people are being priced out of London these days. We're clinging on by the skin of our teeth, but really, our quality of life would be better if we lived somewhere else. This is becoming a place for rich people. But I also believe that the ULEZ will make a real impact on improve the quality of life of people inside the city, and that that will be greater than the impact on a few retro car enthusiasts...

 

For me this is all just another symptom of a badly broken capitalist system. The economy is just way too London-centric and the property divide (and the wealth divide in general) is too great. The world is a fucking mess. The ULEZ is not one of the causes, rather it's a fairly inadequate solution to one of the myriad problems.

[vaughant]

I had a bit of time in West London the other week (amazingly didn't get stabbed by moped thieves?) up by Ealing studios and I must admit it was a really nice place, people seemed friendly, place was quite clean (for London) and I could see the appeal.

I didn't even think the prices were too criminal, about £275k for a one bed flat which looked really nice, ok you can get a lot more out of town and I'm done parts of Britain you'd get a block of flats but there's 2 bed flats by me in Swansea that go for nearer £4/500k so not insane money for Lannnnndaaann Taaaannn.

 

Still not somewhere that appeals to me though and I'm my industry they don't even pay big wages up there, I can get more in the Midlands/Swindon/Aberdeen etc.

 

If you grew up there or are loaded fair play but otherwise I just can't see why people seem so desperate to move there on average wages?

[Cavcraft]

Yeah, because obviously EVERYONE that cycles in London has moved there.

 

'The vast majority of Londoners don't have those advantages/privileges & barely have time to see their kids or cook a decent meal, let alone cycle 15 miles to & from work..'

 

Call it a wild guess, but if the vast majority of Londoners barely have time to see their kids, maybe it's because they're working. And if they're working they almost certainly have to travel to work. If they lack 'privileges' then perhaps they can't afford to run a car. And if they can afford to run a car they're going to be spending an awful amount of time stuck in traffic clogging up the road. What a shame there's not a more affordable means of transport, hey? Something that would get them to/back from work quicker, keep them fit and save clogging the roads up with vehicles and pollution. Someone should invent a two wheeled, engineless conveyance. Maybe put some sticky out bits either side and call them pedals.

[purplebargeken]

There is very little that excites me car-wise that will be available when the ULEZ expansion hits. 

 

I have the Galaxy and the Beemer, the Beemer is virtually mint, it's a tourer and auto, all of which is ideal.

 

The Galaxy isn't mint but it is a useful thing and so nice to drive. I'll have the Toledo which should be okay, guess I'll just have to get saving for a classic V8 or a Morris Minor.

 

It's frustrating. That is all I'm going to say.

 

Wonder if the Ace Cafe will fold. 

 

Shame that there probably won't be any local garages around to help me fix the bugger. 

[lisbon_road]

I cycle three miles to work in Southampton and am lucky that I can do with hardly any road use.  Up until recently, I drove 30 miles each way to Bournemouth, which was a nightmare - the traffic was so bad in B'mouth that I parked up and cycled the last six miles, almost everyday.  Also off roads.

 

Southampton is considering a zone which will only apply to goods vehicles and buses.  There's a case to be made that a lot of traffic here is for ferries and all they'd do to avoid the charges is use a different port, probably going out of their way, which can't make any sense.  By the time it comes in, most goods will be Euro 6 anyway.  It will also apply to taxis but as much discussed elsewhere on this forum, the implementation of Euro 6 is so hit and miss for diesels that I for one see this as a waste of time.  

 

Friends of the Earth and others, with the best of intentions, want to apply it to private cars but I really think it would be hard.  They seem to know enough about the issues to believe that it should be applied based on real driving emissions but how you'd get the data together for all the cars around I have no idea.

 

If anyone has missed it, search on Equa index, and see how some 20 year old cars have better NOX emissions than the worst new ones.  Stuff out there about particulates being worse than NOX too.  It is all very confusing.

[purplebargeken]

Odd. It's actually stressing me out. This is quite unusual as not very much really stresses me out tbh.

[Sir Snipes]

As a sparks, if I wanted to be in london (which I don't) I'd get my Test & Inspection, get a motorbike of some sort and blezz around London with a set of screw drivers and an MFT (tester).

Basically, live in London = don't have a car.

[HillmanImp]

You know, I spend most of my time on here these days writing a really sensible post to explain in simple terms that people really should stop worrying about  trivial rubbish* and get on with life only to delete it and go on Facebook where people have less stupid opinions and actually talk about cars still.

 

*not OP, the bloody mindedness afterwards. Nobody fucking cares.

[red5]

You know, I spend most of my time on here these days writing a really sensible post to explain in simple terms that people really should stop worrying about  trivial rubbish* and get on with life only to delete it and go on Facebook where people have less stupid opinions and actually talk about cars still.

 

*not OP, the bloody mindedness afterwards. Nobody fucking cares.

 

Facebook where people have less stupid opinions

 

Genuine disbelief at that statement. Or there is another Facebook™ that I'm unaware of. 

[DodgeRover]

I feel a bit sorry for any one man band type tradesmen who forked out around £16,000 for a 2016/65 Citroen Relay who will find out their 3 year old van isn’t compliant

 

E26B5860-069C-4832-8E27-282B2E41B2C7.png

Like all the guys who bought brand new vans when the LEZ came into force for smaller vans and who are now going to have to buy another or just fuck off working in the shitty.

[DodgeRover]

As a sparks, if I wanted to be in london (which I don't) I'd get my Test & Inspection, get a motorbike of some sort and blezz around London with a set of screw drivers and an MFT (tester).

Basically, live in London = don't have a car.

Because everybody will love you when you get on a tube/ bus at peak hour with a bag of sharp pointy things..

[DodgeRover]

There is very little that excites me car-wise that will be available when the ULEZ expansion hits.

 

I have the Galaxy and the Beemer, the Beemer is virtually mint, it's a tourer and auto, all of which is ideal.

 

The Galaxy isn't mint but it is a useful thing and so nice to drive. I'll have the Toledo which should be okay, guess I'll just have to get saving for a classic V8 or a Morris Minor.

 

It's frustrating. That is all I'm going to say.

 

Wonder if the Ace Cafe will fold.

 

Shame that there probably won't be any local garages around to help me fix the bugger.

Do we know what is happening regarding LPG vehicles yet?

[purplebargeken]

God knows.