I can imagine I'm going to get flamed for this but here goes:
I think the massive amount of diesel cars being run on the UK's roads is slowly killing the lungs of our children. It's a proven thing, from a study just two years go.
Yet gently challenge people about it, and all we get is a slew of abuse and "my car costs less to tax than a petrol, it's environmentally friendly" etc.
Let me rewind for a second and see how we got here:
Two decades ago the Labour government (and I'm apolitical on this) saw the potential Co2 benefits of diesel, and the car tax system reflected the lower emissions that came from diesel being more fuel efficient.
Hence you have some 1.6 diesel SUV cars being only £30 to tax under the old regime, pre 2017.
The problem is that today, people still look at those numbers when buying used cars. How great it would be to have a Qashqai or a Sportage on my drive, around £125 a year or less to tax, and lots of that "fuel efficiency" that diesel promises...
...except it doesn't take into account particulates. The horrible nasty things that are actually stunting the lung growth of children. That are spewed out of these so-called emission friendly cars.
I just can't understand how we have a group of people who have children, who care about children, who willingly buy vehicles that hurt children.
Four parents I know have these silly diesel SUVS, and run them down the road and back. Barely take any long journeys, perhaps once a month or so. Two of them have had the DPF issues and expensive fixes, but that's another topic for another time.
My point is....why? Why are so, so many cars diesel when the owners are mainly making short journeys, in city centres, and polluting our kids lungs as a result?