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.

100% selfish

To the diesel drivers out there complaining about the charge - you might have a different point of view if you had experienced your child dealing with health issues caused by air pollution eg a bad asthma attack or respiratory complications.

And yes, this is terrible and needs to be addressed immediately. But as someone who bought diesel because the government said it was environmentally better just before they changed their minds, I have a car I couldnt afford to replace if I needed to.

Bus passes for old and disabled are only useful if you can actually GET to a bus stop!

What type of engine is it? Being 4x4 doesn't help. £360 VED suggests it's a dirty old thing.

I checked and my old 2006 Toyota is fine so will be dependent on the type of engine.

You need not be wealthy. Any Toyota with an old 1.8vvti engine will also be fine.

He will move the goalposts

Mine is a daihats terios 1.5 litre dvvt engine. *have to look up dvvt as I don't know what it is.. I bought it 4 years ago. It has no retail value now and I can't afford another car.

Not euro 4 or 6 then? but plenty of older petrol cars are, euro 4 has been around for years and euro 6 (Diesel) since 2015.

imho, we'd be better off charging everyone a little to avoid hitting the few a lot, similar to France's Crit Air, my car is euro 6 and i pay 5 euros.

Just checked my dirty diesel van and it's compliant !
It's never ever going to be driven in a zone though

Mind you I pay twice as much road tax as the car version of a Fiesta

Not everyone can afford a newer car. I don't think it's as simple as just lifestyle choice. Ok, many people can use public transport, but not everyone has access to that.

Don't get me wrong, I believe something needs to be done about carbon emissions, so I'm not saying I'm fully anti-ULEZ . I just question the narrative that it's down to simple selfishness that some people drive old cars.

I’d love to have the luxury of choosing a more environmentally friendly car...

My car was picked because it had a boot big enough to carry the equipment I need to do my job and cost £3500 and I had to borrow some of that to afford it to start with.

It’s currently in the garage, if it’s not fixable - I’ll have an even smaller budget this time.

VAG were early adopters.
anything Ulez compliant is not “very cheap” anymore. The values have increased considerably.
cars that were £300-£500 are now £1200 upwards. That’s before you look for any specifics like 7 seats.

Apparently classic cars are exempt but aren't they more polluting surely

Historic cars, so over 40 years old. They are ulez exempt but not congestion charge (that got reintroduced after covid). They also don’t need mots.
logic being they are driven so rarely that they don’t make a difference and their historical value outweighs it.

Exactly. It's really not as simple as just making bad choices. The judgement on here does my head in sometimes.

Can someone help me out with a simple ULEZ question from Devon please? Besides the polluting factors does the new proposed ULEZ legislation also extend the geographical area that is subject to ULEZ rules?

I know I could google, etc but it doesn't really affect me but then, that doesn't mean I should be completetly unaware either. Currently, the extent of my interest is no more than knowing the geographical area.

Buses, taxi’s as well as older vehicles are effected meaning lots of public & private hire transport costs will go up too!

I have to drive to places due to medical issues meaning i can no-longer use public transport & I wouldn’t be able to go further than 5miles from home via private hire.

I can’t afford a newer car, currently have an 06 plate diesel, but thankfully the nearest city to me, that I go to on occasion, isn’t charging my vehicle the ULEZ yet.

I understand the ULEZ & it’s purpose but as someone who rarely travels to ULEZ zones the charge feels more like theft via another ‘vehicle tax’ when I already pay for my vehicle to be taxed & tested to be emissions safe & suitable for use on roads.
If my vehicle is deemed safe via testing & I already pay a tax to use the roads why should I pay again to go into a certain area!
Companies polluting our air on a daily basis aren’t paying these sorts of charges but they are getting financial breaks & hand outs.
I think that the charge should only be paid by those who frequently, multiple times a day/week go to these places.

If I have to go to the city I will pay, when I have to, but it will make me think more about where I go.
Many will probably avoid ULEZ areas in preference for unrestricted out of town places meaning those places air pollution will increase.

The works vans that housing associations use will be affected too.

Do you know how difficult it is to take the bus when disabled?

I lived in London with no car for six years, we then purchased an older petrol car for out of town trips, we drove it once a month. That Saab would not have been charged ULEZ.

After becoming disabled, we realised we needed a more reliable car as public transit was not viable to get to medical appointments and taking taxis were absurdly expensive. We purchased a 2014 diesel Volvo with no road tax. It was reliable and we would still be driving it if not for ULEZ. Due to my blue badge I had an exemption from the charge, but since we lived on the edge of ULEZ traffic was drastically altered. It took us longer to get everywhere.

We then moved from London to Edinburgh. ULEZ was introduced here. We also wanted to travel to Europe and that was becoming unlikely. So as a high income household that qualified for the motability scheme we got a brand new hybrid, the best option on the scheme . It took over seven months to arrive and even with the scheme it cost more than our Volvo. It cost more and it has higher emissions than our Volvo that we sold to a dealer in the next county. In two months we have driven less than 350 miles, we will maybe put 3,000 miles on the car in a year. We did not need a brand new vehicle.

We are in a lucky and in the unique situation that most people that need cars are not. I try to do as much as I can to be as green as possible, and I would support almost any party over the tories. But the policy clearly isn’t applied in a manner that isn’t punitive and I think it would be difficult for most to comply.

Wow.

i cycle to school with my youngest daughter which is around 3 miles away. So do most of the parents. It is quite telling that the three parents who drop their kids in school drive SUVs, park outside the school on the jagged lines with their engines running. The nurse lives less than a mile from the school, the lady who owns a BMW SUV and a beauticians lives about 900 metres from the front entrance and the builder’s wife drives a Land Rover and lives 400 metres from the school. There is also an AMG, a BMW and a Merc on their driveway. I don’t think they’ll suffer with ULEZ.

I take it you have a few bob.

Are you serious or a pal of Khans my hubby has an old car great condition only 42,000 on the clock. Yes I care about the environment and our health. But until Khan replaces all the old buses etc don’t think he should be allowed to do this. The Uk needs cleaning up but this is going to cause such sadness and upset to so many. I am 74 years old with Alzheimer’s so rely on hubby for hospital and GP appt. I know several older people who
like to go to the CREM or church to lay flowers for their love ones but they will not be able to afford it so give your head a wobble. There is plenty that needs addressing before Khan gets his way

The worse behaved ones at my kids prep school worked for the BBC and other MSM

Bellend doesn't even begin to describe a couple of them. Household names too