To wonder what all the fuss is about ULEZ

[Winterday1991]

Hardly anyone is affected, only if you have a very old car. No, you should not be free to pollute the air by driving around in a polluting vehicle and so should have to pay a penalty to do so.

It annoys me as everyone agrees we need to tackle climate change, but no one wants the hit on their life/ change their lifestyles.

It’s not just very old cars! DH and I had to replace an 11 plate AND a 13 plate as they were diesel. The cars were in great working order. We planned to have them til the end. Also, there was only about 10 months from the announcement to the introduction. That is not a lot of time to save to buy and replace 2 family cars (we need to fit 3 car seats in each to share nursery drop offs on our commutes!)

I want to help the environment, but we should have been given longer notice to save up and replace our cars. Plus we live just on the border. We have sold the cars to a dealer 20 mins away, it’s so frustrating that those cars will still be being driven - just somewhere else! So it doesn’t exactly do a lot for the environment

Schemes like ULEZ just export emissions to somewhere else. How many emissions do you think it takes to make all these new cars?

I mean, this is disingenuous. Quite a lot of cars are affected.

Personally there needed to be a scrapage scheme, if you drive an old car it is often because you can't afford to replace it. Slapping a penalty on the car isn't suddenly going to make it more affordable, particularly as you can't sell your car locally for what it was previously worth.

And I say all that as someone who lives in the first ULEZ zone and is largely in favour of it.

What do you class as a ‘very old car’? We have a 15 plate which would be charged for. Plenty of vehicles that age on the road!

Funny thing is, that car is zero emissions so zero charge for road tax on it!

Tell that to all the tradesman on the outskirts of London

Our Renault scenic was only 9 years old and a friends taxi was 7 yrs old, both diesels and both would have been fined for going into Glasgows LEZ.

we replaced our car last year no problem but friend with taxi has had to do local jobs only just now until they can afford a newer taxi.

This is an interesting point to develop.

If they simply move the emissions, then it is probably good to move the emissions out of a high density urban environment where they cause health problems.

I have never understood why right wing voters want polluted air and shit in the rivers!

There is a scrap page scheme, though?

my registered in June 2015 car can't go into ULEZ zone if registered in Sptember 2015 it would be able to, that is not old,, it's emissions are low enough for £30 tax it is not a gass guzzler 45-55 mpg

even greens will eventually admit the greenest way to run any car at all is to drive it until broken beyond reasonable repair as most emissions are in manufacture and disposal

I have a hybrid car that’s less than 10 years old, and is a premium car, it’s not a battered old shed. It’s still not ULEZ compliant. It hasn’t missed a beat and to replace it with something similar specced will cost £££ because the value of the car to sell to buy the next one has dropped off what it should be because of the ULEZ. We were literally told by the government previously to buy diesels remember.

Also the charging is pretty punitive. Why is it per calendar day for a start. If I drive in to London at 7am and sit in congestion all day til 7pm I get charged £12.50. When I go in for work which is often short hours overnight, I drive in at 10pm in minimal traffic, and drive out at 4am, also in minimal traffic (which vastly reduces the emissions as you are not sat crawling for hours) and that costs me £25. So the charging isn’t relative to use either. No frequent or safe for a lone female trains at this time and trains anyway are unreliable.

it’s yet another assault on the squeezed middle. People who rely on cars but are not deemed poor enough to be helped with the cost of change.

it’s not to say I don’t agree with doing things towards climate change, but making it cheaper and easier to get the train, mass parking on the outskirts with good transport links in especially in peak times, things like that etc should be promoted.

As of this January 2023, ULEZ has covered much of London since 2021.

It's only available to people who have a disability or are in receipt of benefits I believe.

Easy to say when you aren't impacted by it.

And why do you assume that people who understand objections to the ULEZ expansion are right wing voters?

Surely keeping the car is more energy efficient etc than ditching it and all that's involved in making a new one?!

I do agree with the schemes but personally they are a massive pain. I have to travel by car into my nearest city University (I am retraining in healthcare) because the city council have cancelled 40% of bus services so even leaving at 5.30 in the morning means I don’t arrive in time. I need to get home in time to meet wraparound care hours too so can’t rely on buses.

I’m a student with minimal income and can’t afford a replacement car at the moment. So I pay the fee each day. It’s really having an impact on us financially.

Dh's car is 8 years old and 3 months too old to be compliant.
It's a 7 seater, so when we go into the city - a 60 mile round trip, we'll now need to take in two cars to carry the number of passengers we need to, rather than one.

Not entirely though because you don't have to buy a brand new car. Plenty of second hand cars in circulation will comply.

It's not just about cars. Tradesmen can't just afford to replace vans at a time when money is tight. My elderly neighbour has an older car which he uses about twice a week. He doesn't want to replace it and can't afford to.

I live in a leafy London borough, 10 miles from central London. There's nothing wrong with the air quality. This is not about emissions, it's about money and it's hitting those who can least afford it.

Think these tradesmen all earn enough money to pay the daily fee.

disposal and making new cars is much worse for the environment. It would be better to keep old cars running.

If it was based on emissions it might get more support, but basing it on age of the car is crazy. I have a zero emissions (no road tax) car that is banned from the city centre.

on what planet would selling my zero emissions car and buying a new one be a greener option.

I was referring to the Conservative voters in Uxbridge, the Tories are the UK's leading right wing party.

Yep. I have a £0 Diesel Mini that I now have to pay to drive into Bristol (but not Bath). Makes absolutely no sense.

My car is 7 years old and low emissions so no road tax. Because it's a diesel I can't take it into a ULEZ zone without paying so I'll have to replace it which I can't afford to do. I also have a blue badge but it doesn't count for exemption because I'm on lower rate mobility not higher. How am I not being penalised? How is it not costing me money that I can't afford? I'd use public transport but there isn't any from my estate into the City and that's in Edinburgh. So I won't go into the ULEZ. If it was about air quality then my low emission car would be okay but it's not.

Perhaps the ULEZ expansion will put a stop to tradesmen ripping off customers who live in the original ULEZ zone as they charge every customer the full ULEZ fee so some of them are making a tidy profit out of it.