Partly AIBU, partly a plea for experience or advice about emissions and disability discrimination.

[IUseTooMuchKitchenRoll]

Yesterday I saw a friend, who following an accident some years ago is now tetraplegic. He lives on the south coast, and has an adapted van that he can wheel straight into, and his assistants or friends drive. This van is about 11 years old, so it's not motability.

Because its so old, it gives out emissions that are too high for the limit for vehicles driving into London. My friend was sent a leaflet about this a few months ago, which stated that he would either have to have his van adapted or pay the emissions charge. But as he almost never goes into London, he just put in in with the recycling.

We have an event coming up in London in six weeks, which is about promoting the charity we both work with. My friend called whoever it is that deals with emissions charges last week, and was told that he would have to pay £100 per day to have his van in London, or have a filter fitted to his van. When he contacted his local garage, they said it would cost £700 to have this filter fitted, and they weren't sure that they would be able to do it in time for this event anyway because they have to source the right filter.

I am outraged that there isn't some kind of concession. I realise that lowering emissions is important, but I also think this is discrimination because most people would have the option of getting the train. My friend could possibly get the train (we haven't worked out if the right stations are accessible yet) but we are planning on staying in a hotel for two nights as this is a three day event and he needs to be able to bring a mobile hoist with him. So even if the stations are accessible, it would be completely impractical for him, and would mean he had to struggle with getting trains while the rest of our group was driving from the event to the hotel. It will cost £300 in emissions charges if he attends the whole event, and the charity really needs him there as he has been doing a lot of the organising.

Is there anything we can do about this? Apparently not according to the person my friend called, but does anyone have any experience of getting round this problem? I would really appreciate some MN wisdom here. And AIBU to expect they should let a disabled person create emissions within the emissions zone?

And AIBU to expect they should let a disabled person create emissions within the emissions zone?

Yes you are BU. Disability doesnt mean preferential treatment that flouts the law.

Emissions zone? I live in London and saw one the other day. No idea how they would test my car as I shot through it though.

It's not about preferential treatment, it's about enabling so me one with a disability to have the same outcomes as someone without. If most people wanted to avoid the emissions charge, they could catch the train. Or they could change their vehicle without having to make thousands of pounds worth of adaptions.

Apparently they know which cars need to pay based on your number plate. They know which number plates belong to vehicles that give out too many emissions, that's how my friend got notification that his vehicle wouldn't be free of charge.

troisgarcons - it doesn't affect cars, only vans and lorries.

I didn't know that Daisy, that makes it even worse!

But he doesn't have to change his van and pay thousands in adaptations, he has to pay £700 to make sure his van reaches legal minimums. And yes cars have had to have adaptations too I thought because of unleaded petrol and leaded petrol no longer existing.

We had a very cheap older car that would only take leaded petrol. We had to find the money to either adapt it or buy a new secondhand car.

YANBU there should be some type of concessions for adapted vehicles. I can understand them doing this for the likes of work vans and lorries but surely an adapted van for someone with severe mobility problems is as essential as their wheelchair.

Can he hire a suitable vehicle for the 3 days?
Contact one of the disability charities to see if there are any lift sharing groups.

Thanks Totem, hiring a van is a possibility, but it might end up costing as much as the emissions charge!

Lift sharing groups are a good idea to look into as well. He's going to do some more research tomorrow, I was just hoping people on here might have some good ideas of where to start.

Lesley, you are right, but £700 is a lot to find, especially when it's for a vehicle that you need, as opposed to a vehicle you want, and it's for a once yearly trip into London.

Joneses - exactly!

if the charity want him there, let them pay.

The access for disabled people on public transport is now much easier than it used to be. Cant someone else bring the hoist and take it back for him while he uses the train with assistance from friends?

That does sound mean. Could the charity contact the Mayor's office and ask them what should be done about it?

How about hiring a vehicle from another charity - MNDA springs to mind as I know they have specialist vehicles.

quick search of london.gov.uk shows that they have a disability equality scheme - you need to get hold of whoever runs that, not the idiots in the emissions office (fnar fnar) who probably don't know the first thing about equalities legislation. And/or contact the Equalities Commission or whatever they are called these days.

Thanks for the replies.

The charity can't afford to pay, and would probably struggle to explain that as a legitimate cost that would benefit the charities intended beneficiaries to the CC.

Squeaky, it's a possibility, we have considered meeting him on a service station outside the M25 somewhere to swop the hoist into our car. It would just be a massive PITA because we will have loads of stuff needed for the event in our car already and we live a long way away from our friend. And my friend would need to find somewhere to leave his car for three days, but something along those lines is a possibility.

Edam, we are thinking about doing exactly that! Anyone got a contact number for Boris?

X posted, thanks! Never heard of MNDA, I'll google them now.

Thanks for that Edam, very useful.

I think you might be ok, the first trip into to LEZ is free, you just get a letter telling you you need to pay it next time.