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.

Winterday1991
I find it hard to believe that a builder can't afford £12.50 a day.

Don't worry he will just add it on to your fee like parking charges.

Oh but he can't get the money back if he subcontracts for a larger firm.

Most of them dodge tax, take on multiple jobs at a time. I have NEVER met a poor tradesman. They earn a fortune considering most of them come from very working class backgrounds

Our car is 10 years old, we bought it around 4 years ago and have literally just finished paying it off and we were hoping to have a few years of no car payments to save up to put towards a newer one eventually. Typically if we had got one just 6 months newer it would have been fine.

The Scottish cities nearest us aren't enforcing it until next year at least but after that we can't go in without a penalty. There is no daily charge here, so a £60 penalty each day (although they'll helpfully halve it if you pay within 14 days). I'm just glad DH has changed jobs so he doesn't have to drive into one of the cities daily, the shifts he used to work didn't have public transport available before or after shifts so we would have been totally screwed if he was still at that job.

What car is this? Zero Road tax is not (always) zero emissions.

My high earning very middle class friends tend to have cars that are compliant. The rest don't.

I do support the inner London ULEZ as public transport is much better there. But once you're out in the suburbs it can be pretty pants. To get to my local hospital is a 10 - 15 minute drive. Public transport is 3 buses and 90 minutes! Imagine if you're an HCA at that hospital working shifts and now need to try and find the money to get a new car. We're going into debt to get a ULEZ compliant car - like others, one we'd bought to drive for many many years, using government advice to buy the most eco friendly. I get approx 50mpg in it, but nope, now they say it's not eco friendly. And worth peanuts because of it. The cost of second hand cars is utterly ridiculous too. £19k for a 6 year old Ford C Max?! Seriously?! I'm already spending £25 a week on ULEZ (kids hobby. And no, due to specific laws, we can't use public transport for it). Come end of the month I will pay it for seeing my GP (at the moment, quick 5 minute drive so can take an early lunch break. If I needed to walk it (a struggle due to disability) or use a bus, it would be minimum one hour. I have fortnightly blood tests that I will pay £12.50 for now (wrong direction for public transport, so while only 3 miles away, it's 3 buses and many many miles).

I would support ULEZ a lot more if the bus routes were better in the outer boroughs.

So many people on this thread do not understand why the ULEZ zone exists and what it is trying to achieve. It is not about CO2 emissions or global warming or congestion. It's about improving air quality is areas where there are high levels of traffic. Diesel cars (even quite new ones) emit a lot of particulates which are damaging to the lungs of people who breath in the fumes. By excluding these types of vehicles from very busy areas (ie. city centres) it reduces their harm.

I pay road tax.

This ^

@Winterday1991
They earn a fortune considering most of them come from very working class backgrounds
What exactly do you mean by that?

Also, if they are anything like the tradesmen in my area. they sit parked on pavements with their engines running, wasting fuel. If they can afford to waste fuel, they can afford the charge.

But in any event they can afford the charge because they can pass it on.

I agree with ULEZ in general, I think people are far too reliant on cars rather than walking or using public transport. A chap on my local fb asked how they would know if he drove from his house to the shop at the end of his street which...sort of proves the point of why we need to change things. Disability aside, you should not be using your car to nip a minute up the road. I recall my mum was terrible for driving to the corner shop growing up.

I think its part of a bigger problem overall. The roads were empty today on my bus journey to nursery, because all the school run cars are gone, because they dont have the time to walk to school if they have to get to work, or their children are in different schools.

This expansion has been rushed through.

When the original ULEZ was bought in it was known about for about 3 years.

People knew that when the scrappage scheme opened they needed to act quickly but knew that as long as their car and ownership situation matched the criteria, they could buy a new car/van with the discounts.

The criteria was also wider and the discounts bigger, and that's before considering the affects of inflation.

In my city the main link road from the north to the south of the city is in the LEZ. It’s got sea on one side, so a huge detour if you want to avoid going slap through the city centre. It’s thought the fume levels on the affected road is actually from the boats in the harbour rather than the cars.

Yes OP, I completely agree, let them all eat cake.

I'm disabled, so is my partner and people who I know, we aren't entitled to a bus pass. Like a lot of people I daren't challenge my PIP award in fear of having it completely removed. If this was about public health then the slum landlords, including the Council's damp properties would have been sorted out years ago.

My car is registered in sept 2015 but probably was manufactured around the same time as yours or certainly to the same spec. I know it's not EU6. It certainly was "built" before sept so is a load of bollocks which affects unfairly.

I hate people who oppose the ULEZ. Central London boroughs have managed it without any drama but the outer boroughs are using tax payers money to oppose it. Utterly pathetic.
Remember the gorgeous ELla Kissi- Debrah who died as a direct result of pollution.

People who oppose it are selfish and small minded. Appalling people.

The scrappage scheme is still telling us to come back in July 2023 for more information btw.

It's now, what, 5 weeks till the new ULEZ comes in, and we still can't apply for scrappage?

Helpful. It’s not like cars are in short supply

We need to start somewhere. So many unnecessary car journeys take place in London. We have fantastic public transport. We haven't had a car for years and years. It used to sit in our driveway doing nothing so we sold it. Don't miss it at all. Much cheaper to rent a car if needed.
On my local Next Door site all the dog owners are complaining that they need to drive their cars to walk the dogs! Unbelievable.

What zero emissions car do you have that is banned from ULEZ?

Yes but not everyone else does and tradesmen are having to cut prices in other parts of the country, or people can't afford anything but essential work.

Have you spoken to your manufacturer.
some are despite what the log books say. Volkswagen and landrover have two engines that are compliant but not registered as such. If you have a letter from them, you can have it updated at the dvla.
before you do anything rash speak to the manufacturer

If you can’t afford a tradesperson don’t use them! if you have made the decision to use a trades person that you can moan they’re ripping you off! Very random comment!

So what about those who can no longer get to work?? Those who will be struggling with multiple hospital appointments?

I support the extended ULEZ in theory - but it's being rushed in when adequate, joined up public transport isn't currently available. I can get, say, north / south brilliantly on public transport. But when all healthcare I currently use is East/West, it's ridiculous. I would end up using half my annual leave allowance a year just on healthcare appointments, where as being able to drive to them means I can easily make up the time.

The Sutton marsden hospital is in the new Ulez. It massively affects staff who need to travel by car.