Londoner? ULEZ expansion - wrong time?

[GrubzUp]

I like Sadiq Khan, in general I applaud green initiatives.

However it's been announced today that the original inner London low emission zone is to be expanded into outer London - meaning that if you have an older, more polluting vehicle it will cost you £12.50 every time you drive it anywhere in London (inside the M25 I think).

I live in outer London. There are a LOT of older, non ULEZ compliant vehicles on the road round here. At the moment, people don't need to be compliant for local trips, because unless they're heading inside the North / South Circular Rd, they are fine in their older cars.

I look out in the street and see my neighbours' cars: the people who tend to drive older vehicles are the young, the old, the disabled and the poor.

AIBU to say that hitting them with a big new tax for driving anywhere in the middle of a cost of living crisis is the WRONG time? If they can't afford a newer model they certainly can't afford to pay £12 every time they take it off the drive. I feel bad for these people. How are they going to afford it?

Note that public transport here is not what it is in inner London, you can't just "jump on the tube".

Yes I live in zone 6, south london / Surrey boarder. Literally, the border between London and Surrey is 1 mile from my house. My home is in Surrey, kids school and work in London. Not sure if my car meets the criteria but it’s due to be changed anyway. But it is frustrating and will cause a lot of added expense when people don’t have much money spare

@Notanotherwindow my dad has a seven year old diesel focus which is not compliant. There are loads of diesels out there which are not complaint. He’s 75 and can’t afford a new car. He lives off a state pension.

@Notanotherwindow Cricket Bag a fifty mile
round trip on a bike plus that bag. For a nine year old! Come on!!!!

Lozzy - I've seen fridges being transported on bikes

But you'll only be happy if it's child labour riding that bike.

no wait - you don't want anyone to have a fridge?

I'm genuinely torn about this. I live in central London and we run a couple of cars, one of which we did have to change as a result of the original ulez decision. This was ok for us (although I loved that old car), as we can afford it.

But while I support the ulez (and Khan, it's very tough to be a Labour mayor under a Tory govt) I have the imagination to know that this will be extremely hard for many people who really need their vehicles for business, for work and for everyday living. And it will hit the poorest hardest, like everything else is. ALL of us rely on lower paid working people, the pandemic showed us who the keyworkers really are. And this hits them hard at a time when there is a an unprecedented cost of living crisis.

So for me it's the right policy at the wrong time, and should be postponed for a further year.

@Devoutspoken are you actually fucking reading what I say? We don’t live in London or even inside the M25….but we do have to travel inside the M25 up to a 25 mile journey from where we live (50 miles return). My youngest son is 9. You’re just making yourself look like an idiot if you think that’s possible by bike.

Yes what will happen to all these cars. More waste

Lozzy - chill, I was just saying a cricket bag is transportable by bike

Redbridge, surely able bodied people who live in Central london don't need a car

Sadiq Khan has been a bloody awful mayor.

This needs time for people to adjust before it's brought in.

@Devoutspoken in a country with no consideration for health and safety but we don’t live in one of those countries. It would be bloody dangerous even for a short journey.

We bought our brand new diesel car in 2010, only use it now for essential journeys. It looks brand new and has never broken down. There is a compensation thing now, I saw an advert for my diesel claim for manufacturers misleading buyers about the benefits of diesel. I signed up for it.

Still much more provision than much of the country.

@DdraigGoch well yes, it's the capital, the footfall is insane and it funds much of the rest of the country

Lozzybear, health and safety's your issue? Cars don't have a great track record in that department.

@Devoutspoken well my nine year old is far safer in a car than cycling 50 miles cross country with a bag on his bag that would crash into the wheels of his bike.

You can transport stuff on the bike itself, not the riders back, but yes 50 miles is a long way to travel for cricket

@Lozzybear it wouldn’t be safe on a bike either. A 25 mile (50 mile return) journey for a sports match is not unusual. We travel a lot further for rugby. Outside central London people do travel much longer distances. They are simply not practical by bike, however much you want to argue they are. And the M25 is not a hard border than no one travels over.

Lozzy, if you have built a life in which you need a car, then you need a car, I was just contesting that a cricket bag is not transportable by bike, which was your original claim

@Devoutspoken and you haven’t proved anything. This is not a developing country where people cycle round unsafely with large objects on their bikes/backs.

Those would be the strikes that have come about because of cutbacks in funding - i.e. lack of investment.

Lozzybear, who said anything about cycling unsafely? there are bikes adapted for transporting heavy goods which are very popular in modren urban centres across the world. They are very much here to stay.

Ours is a 2013 diesel and going very well. Had no intention of changing for another 3 /4 yrs.

@Devoutspoken and how much do these cycles cost?! Thousands of pounds. Might as well get a new car or pay the charge…if you could actually afford that!