To think this is ridiculous and will mostly affect the poor of London?

[mothertruck3r]

www.standard.co.uk/news/london/new-emissions-zone-to-hit-drivers-with-1250-a-day-pollution-tax-a3858531.html

I understand he wants to reduce pollution but how is this going to help the hundreds of thousands of poor people who can't afford to buy a new car, pay the fee (£12.50 per day!) or pay the fine, especially after people were encouraged to buy diesel cars?

Great if you are rich and can easily buy a new car but there are loads of poor people in London who can't do this and rely on their old car for their jobs, taking kids to school, disabled getting about etc.

It's not very well thought through. I thought Labour was supposed to be the party to help the poor. Seems all this will do is help boost new car sales for big manufacturers whilst screwing a huge part of the electorate that voted for him !

The North and South Circular roads themselves are the boundary of the new zone but are themeslves outside the ULEZ so anyone living on them will be able to drive on them with no problems. You can drive from Brent Cross to Hanger Lane on the A406 in a non ULEZ compliant car. It's inside the North and South Circulars that the zone starts.

This happened under Gordon Brown who gave anyone buying a new car got a few thousand off the price. Obviously no one poor coldafford a new car, especially in the middle of a global fincial crisis, but we had to shore up our failing automotive industry, didn't we, despte the damage those cars were haing on our own alth ad thehealth of our planet. And we're still doing it. Joy.

If we must encourage the use of new cars then we should give a small electric run-around to every household with a driver who gets tax credits.

I live in zone 4 London which would be In the 'zone'. Takes me 12 mins to drive to my gym or a walk and 2 buses (1 hr-ish total). Takes me 15 mins to drive to my local shopping centre. Or a walk and a bus and a train and walk (50 mins). Takes me 15 mins to drive to the station in the morning for work, or an hour walk (not feasible as my commute is already over an hour, there is no bus link). Transport links are not great in the suburbs. This tax would affect people like me greatly in terms of finances and quality of life

To PP who said it will help the environment, it's actually quite unlikely to help substantially as Sadiq has said himself in other interviews that buses and taxis are by far the biggest polluters and they aren't going anywhere. This scheme is just another way of making money, it's already so unaffordable to live in London I'm sure there will be a huge outflux of people

But what sort of car do you drive Nutella? And if it’s non-compliant are you planning to replace it in the next 3 years?

Yes VW did get fined. 20 billion in fines and compensation in the US alone - enough to make a big impact on their total value. Other countries still proceeding with action, including major lawsuits from VW shareholders. Several executives have been charged with criminal offences.

It was a dreadful crime but I really don’t think any other manufacturers are looking at it saying “we should cheat the system like VW, even if we got caught we’d just face a slap on the wrist”

But because buses are a big polluter they are being refurbished and replaced with/by low emission and zero emission engines. There will be 3000 ultra low emission double deckers in London by 2019 and 250 zero emission single deckers by 2020. Older buses are also going to have their engines replaced etc. You can read more about the bus replacement policy here. tfl.gov.uk/modes/buses/improving-buses

There are also changes to taxi regulations even though there is a grace period for taxis and private hire vehicles - they're not going to be exempt forever. tfl.gov.uk/info-for/taxis-and-private-hire/emissions-standards-for-taxis

It so clearly is not just a money making scheme, but an attempt to improve our environment and reduce emissions, and any money raised can be used on improving public transport and roads and helping eg schools and hospitals mitigate the effects of pollution.

@BehemothPullsThePeasantsPlough my car will be 14 years old when the tax comes in so will be taxed. It isUnlikely to 'need' replacing, it's barely needed any maintenance till now. So wasn't planning to replace it. I currently spend £12 a day on commuting costs, live very frugally even though I have a good-ish job, been trying to save to buy a property for over 10 years. Buying a brand new car is not something I can afford. Costs of living in London are too much, and before people say 'just move' it's not easy if you have elderly parents/ family in one place you have lived all your life. I would expect the mayor to be trying to improve lives rather than ruin them

Doubt giving free cars would work. You’d have to raise taxes massively and those not eligible would have even less money to spend on cleaner cars. Also many not on benefits are by no means well off. Would be ludicrously unfair.

There is no point constantly spending more on London if everywhere else is massively underfunded. London clearly has decent public transport whereas much of elsewhere clearly doesn’t. We don’t even have reliable or affordable public transport for work, let alone free transport for kids . Why on earth should London get their already superior system upgraded whilst other parts of the country are struggling without any infrastructure. It’s just appalling.

public transport in London is self-funded, it does not get any money from Central Government. Cross-rail has over run, and the nice central government have agreed to lend TfL some money to fund it, which they'll have to pay back from future income.

If other parts of the country want a better public transport system, maybe start using your vote to get in a council that will provide one.

And of course London is the most populated and therefore one of the most (if not the most) polluted cities. Other cities can bring in zero emissions buses and ultra low emissions zones too.

Air pollution in London is out of control. This action is absolutely necessary and I commend Sadiq Khan for doing it.

When it comes down to some people having to give up their cars vs. cleaner air for all of us, I’m going to go for the latter.

There is no point constantly spending more on London if everywhere else is massively underfunded. London clearly has decent public transport whereas much of elsewhere clearly doesn’t. We don’t even have reliable or affordable public transport for work, let alone free transport for kids . Why on earth should London get their already superior system upgraded whilst other parts of the country are struggling without any infrastructure. It’s just appalling.

London is the UK’s main net contributor. Every other part of the country sucks up money produced by London.

Of course London should have an amazing transport system, given that it’s Londoners who are actually paying for everyone’s transport around the country.

And if free cars were necessary to secure Londoners’ air and health, then I would support it. I don’t care if that means Derbyshire doesn’t get a new bus line.

A huge part of the cars I see only have the driver in, school traffic excepted of course, that’s mum and 2.4 children to start with.

Most vans also only have the driver in. There was a building project on my street where there were at least 7 vans and cars with only one person in.

Something needs to be done.

However, I think the mayor needs to have aviation fuel taxed, or at least lobby for that.

Nobody is asking anybody to buy a brand new car. Some people will find it advantageous to replace their existing car with a 10 year old car.

Another one here who is delighted by this, and thinks Khan should go further. I live on a main road, and I dread to think what DS's lungs are like.

And no, I don't drive now. There's no need in London. Is it sometimes inconvenient? Yes, certainly, but that's not a good enough reason for buggering up so many children's long-term health.

I live in London and I'm delighted by this. The air is awful. ANYTHING that disincentivizes driving is a good thing in my eyes. Plus buses become a better means of transport with fewer cars on the road as there's less awful traffic for them to get stuck in. Buses may be more polluting than cars (although they are being improved anyway) but a single bus is still far better than if everyone on that bus was driving their own car.

I tend to keep my cars about 15 years, sometimes 17!!! I just replaced my father's Saab that I had been driving for 10 years since he died (diesel because he was encouraged to get that). My replacements (new i.e. second hand) car is diesel too.I specially wanted petrol but the prices were too high. Luckly I live in zone 5 and just about never drive into London if I can help it so I should be okay.

It is nice of you to think of the poor in all of this OP

However, being poor, often means no car . Ok, granted, some do buy an old banger to get round in but on the whole , use public transport .

Most people I know who live in London don't bother having a car and many don't even drive.

People who need transport because of their job or a disability perhaps need to look seriously about second hand hybrid or electric cars which are coming down in price all the time.

I really wonder why someone in London would buy a diesel car, they really aren't economically if you are going short journeys.

I'll be affected by this and will have to ditch my car. Its a pain in the arse but I should've done it years ago really - takes something like this to make you do it.

As for there being no poor people in London - what a laugh. And while investment in public transport and other infrastructure may be more, we have lost our libraries, playground funding and money for education same as everywhere else. The rise of the priveliged countrywide has affected people everywhere and they're watching as we bicker between ourselves about who is worse off and their offshore bank accounts grow.

But it will help the children of London, who are being killed by air pollution, or facing long term health issues because of it, and poor children are worst affected

^^

This

But we could do with free public transport really

I wish people would stop hiding behind concern for “the poor”, and just say “I don’t like this because it negatively impacts ME and my family”. That’s a good enough reason to complain about something!

But stop with the crocodile tears for “poor, hardworking families”. They’re usually the ones stood at bus stop or trudging along the pavements inhaling the bloody fumes.

@Ifailed

Fucking london-centric bullshit.

Before sadiq makes these changes it would have been nice if he focused on making public transport cheaper and more reliable.

As the poor are far less likely to have a car than the not poor and are also disproportionately adversely affected by air pollution I think it's fair enough really.