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.

My car is band B for emissions for road tax purposes so low rated. I still can’t drive in a ULEZ though.

It's one step closer to a controlling fascist state !

Climate change is caused by over population of the planet

The more people the more the pollution

It's not based on pure emissions though is it?

My newer (probably very polluting) 3litre petrol sporty car definitely is emitting more than someone's 8 year old diesel small car that's 0 or low "road tax". It makes no sense. There's also very little help for the majority of people towards replacing their cars, who's done the calc on how much energy is wasted and emitted making a brand new car to replace a perfectly good working car?

UndercoverCop
Tell that to all the tradesman on the outskirts of London

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.

This, sick of these tradesmen ripping off normal working people.

I've just done a check on our two old bangers, 55 plate and 56 plate, so not far off 20 years old, and they are both compliant. Why are so many newer cars not compliant? We keep our cars to the bitter end, so I'd be gutted to have to replace a 7 or 8 year old car.

https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/check-your-vehicle/

One of the problems with ULEZ is that it disproportionately affects people who are less well off. If you're rich enough to buy a new car every year you don't have to pay.

What is needed is a charge based on a car's value. The newer and more expensive it is the more you pay. Someone driving a brand new top of the range Tesla should be forced to pay a thousand pounds a day. Someone in a battered 1990s Ford Ka shouldn't have to pay anything.

I agree. I happily live in London car free. Public transport is great. We have to be willing to make lifestyle sacrifices so the planet doesn't burn.

It's not just London - there are charges for driving certain cars in Birmingham, Manchester, Bradford and Newcastle.

I'm a left winger who is concerned about Climate Change, but my issue with charging drivers is threefold:
1 - the concept of having to pay extra to drive to certain places is not what I deem to be 'freedom'
2 - the alternative public transport options, especially up North, are absolutely awful. If the trains/buses were properly funded then I'd be more inclined to try them... just fyi there was a train strike yesterday and another one tomorrow...
3 - the government are happy to take the cash off Joe Public and claim it's for our own good, but then don't seem to do anything about climate change on a much larger scale. Still issuing drilling licences/subsidising heavy-pollution industries. I'm not aware of any progressive anti-climate change action being funded by ULEZ charges, they're just going into government coffers to be wasted in the usual way

Easy to say people can just buy a newer second hand car but have you seen the price of second hand cars at the moment? I just sold my tiny 5 year old citigo for £9,200, it cost around £13,000 when I bought it brand new on PCP.

petrol cars more likely to be compliant diesels only from September 2015, however it was not long before that we were encouraged to buy diesels as better fuel economy and supposedly better for environment as lower CO2 than petrol cars too, but then they found other particle and nitrogen oxides emissions more harmful from diesels so all those who bought diesel on back of last scrappage scheme now penalised many people keep cars 10, 15 even 20 years as a car looked after properly should last that long or 250,000 miles per engine

it is greenest to run any car electric, petrol hybrid, diesel for as long as possible 7-8 year old cars should not be penalised new and nearly new cars cost loads of money

It is just what engine the vehicle manufacturer put in your car at the time of manufacture.

When the original ULEZ zone was implemented in 2018 I had to scrap my car as it wasn't compliant. Yet if my car was the same model but 2 years younger it would have been compliant.

My neighbours have desiel cars that are 10-12 years old that are compliant but other people I know with cars that same age aren't .

Most has been already said. One oddity to add: it also applies to motorbikes which is odd when they take up little space, and don't get stuck in traffic.

The ULEZ is about local pollution (particulates mainly, NoX too) whereas the car tax banding is based on Co2 which was about global warming.

At the time people were being pushed to diesels it was pretty obvious to us asthma folks that local pollution would get worse. I bought a petrol car at the time which was cheap, and now is ULEZ compatible, but still costs over £200 a year to tax. The lack of joined up thinking between central government and local city governments is a scandal.

Not true.

I live next to people with older diesel cars that are compliant.

Some car manufacturers don't wait to put new technology into their car models.

Because it’s an emissions charge, not a wealth tax?

Exactly this.

I've got a big 2016 diesel which is compliant. I didn't realise it was so random as to which cars were and were not compliant.

When I had to scrap my car in 2017. The price of second hand cars went up so much it was worth it for me to buy a new car on the then scrappage scheme.

Now people won't get the same incentives I got to buy a compliant car.

Speak for yourself, I also live in London (SE) and it's shit.

Buses are overcrowded and avg 15 mins between them. Not acceptable in a busy city where they're pushing people to use it more.

OP I'm guessing you have an office job and are not a tradesperson who relies on their work vehicle to make money and feed your family ? Yo are also probably not disabled, or elderly and rely on your car to get to essential places like the GP. You are incredibly out of touch with reality sorry.

Absolutely. I bought a 10 year old car for just under £3K 3 years ago.

Now a 10 year old car is more than double that. My salary isn't though

Tradesmen make enough money. Old and disabled have free bus passes.

You have to be on a very specific type of benefit to be eligible for it. I cannot remember which one though.

I am still waiting to see credible data on how air quality has improved in ULEZ zones. In our soon to be ULEZ zone, there are around 1/3 fewer cars on the road than 10 years ago. Then, if I drove home after 10pm I would have to park some way from home but now I have the pick of spaces up and down the road as people just don’t have as many cars any more.
Our car is a 10 plate with only 25k miles on the clock and our mechanic says it is cleaner than many of the newer cars he services. I can’t afford a new car so will pay the £12.50 per day charge/fine. I mainly walk, tube or cycle but we use it to visit family outside of London who aren’t near public transport.
I don’t believe ULEZ is about air quality at all as others in our area too are just going to pay the charge, as it’s cheaper than replacing a car. What difference will that make to the environment?