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.

I agree with you, OP. I gave up my car when ULEZ was introduced in central London. I think it will be in all cities very soon. We can’t continue in the same way as before. I’m thinking of the children now and the planet they are inheriting and it is a scary prospect.

I do really feel for diesel car owners. There was a time not so long ago that they were zero rated because the government thought they were good for the environment (they aren’t!). I think there should be more support for people who bought these fairly new cars in good faith.

This is the goadiest post I have ever read. You have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. We live in Zone 6 - small business owner with a large panel van that is not compliant with ULEZ. Under the scrappage scheme we would have to replace it with a EV. A large EV panel van cost upwards of £80K - not available to buy for two years (waiting lists) - absolutely extortionate cost. It also has a limited mileage so although it will get there and back if work is in London, it won't get there and back without needing to be charged if work is in East Anglia or on the South Coast and good luck finding charging points there. Plus of course the weight of the materials it is carrying (over 2 tonnes) reduces the amount of milage an EV van can do - they are useless. Work is drying up because the cost of living crisis is stopping people doing work and people are making do. As for transport links - we have one bus at the end of our road, it takes an hour and a half to get into the centre of London because the service is sh*t - mainly because Khan has destroyed TFL and doesn't set foot outside of central London to see what it is like to live in Greater London. You are kidding yourself if you think ULEZ is about air quality because if you've got a non-compliant car you can still drive into London and pollute it as long as you pay Khan £12.50 a day which defeats the object really. The only reason he wants your money is to offset debt he has created within TFL. You should also know that a lot of big businesses are sending their non-compliant vehicles to places in the UK where there is no ULEZ so Manchester have now got all the non-compliant vehicles in my DS's work place and they have Manchesters newer fleet so they can avoid the charge! They've just sent the pollution elsewhere.

Obviously not our zone 5 then!! I've outlined some of the useless public transport issues out here in North East London.

We can get most places by bus - but it just takes so long.

Well something has to be done, didn't it? What is the alternative - do nothing? I live in the ULEZ and the air quality is noticeably improved since it was introduced. I read that 1 in 4 deaths in LBH&F are attributable to air pollution. I can't believe anyone would have an issue with cleaner air initiatives! The 20 mph speed limits in London are also much needed and saving lives, both humans and animals.

What about cleaners and couriers? They’re often self employed.

Home carers, they’re not even usually paid travel time, no way will they be getting ULEZ charges paid.

Nurses and porters working hospital night shifts?

HGV drivers have to get to work at random early times, so do loads of factory workers, Royal Mail workers, supermarket staff... I’m sure there’s plenty more and public transport is pretty rubbish at 5am.

We always keep our cars until they practically fall apart and years ago bought a diesel when the government told us to buy diesel not petrol. No one will want to buy it from us, so unless the government gives us an incentive, we're keeping the faithful old thing!

It’s the timescale that is part of the issue they could have introduced it more slowly to allow for natural attrition of the vehicles rather than a cliff edge effect.
They could have allowed residents 1 or 2 free journeys a week. That would allow for a supermarket shop etc but would discourage the school run.

We live in a village with a minimal bus service so need our car, but we try to keep our journeys in it to a minimum - going to town as little as possible and trying to do do all our little errands in one go.

I don't understand how a 10yo hybrid isn't ULEZ compliant?

But why do you view it as a rip off? It’s a skill you don’t have so why are people not allowed to charge for it!
your vitriol makes no sense

The ULEZ is inevitable. Soon it will be nationwide. Better to just accept this snd stop complaining - what's the alternative realistically?

Could be a hybrid Diesel - they do exist and some are Euro5

In Scotland, there is no option of the daily fee. If your car is not compliant you cannot enter the zone without a fine. It is not just very old cars.

I agree, but the health issues caused or made worse by traffic pollution are a worry, especially for children.

I'm not opposed to it in principle, but think it's going to be really tough on people who live in areas close to or in outer London and who can't afford to trade up to a ULEZ compliant vehicle.

If they introduced a permit system for older vehicles for a few years, so everyone didn't have to replace them all at once, it would help. The cost of the permit could more than cover the cost of running such a scheme.

My builder BIL recently looked into getting a ULEZ compliant van, as he sometimes has to venture into outer London. It was going to cost him £44k!

@Winterday1991 Maybe you should also read up about the child labour in the mines where they get the cobalt from to make the Lithium battery your EV runs on. Perhaps you would prefer it if the children who die are the ones you can't see working 12 hour shifts in mines in the Congo rather the ones that walk around on the streets of London.
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2016/01/child-labour-behind-smart-phone-and-electric-car-batteries/

We have parents who live in zone 3,
we also have an electric car but it costs us 4-6x the ULEZ fee to charge it up on the chargers when we visit so we now take our crappy non ULEZ compliant car. It’s cheaper to pay the fee and not use any form of public transport as once you’ve paid the fee you may as well make the most of it and drive round town. Previously we would drive in park at the parents and then drive out a couple of days later having used public transport the whole time.

Also with all the tech they have the fee should run from the minute you enter ULEZ and last for 24hours. Of course they would make less money which is the whole point of the crappy scheme.

Wow OP, how naive, the ULEZ is not about emissions, its a mass surveillance network, firstly to test the technology for road pricing, then moving on from there it will be rolled out nationwide, covering all roads. This will be a means of removing your freedom to move around your own country.

There's already a big network of ANPR cameras, so we're already under "mass surveillance" in our cars in most places.

HappySonHappyMum - yes child Labour needs to be abolished, but that's hardly a reason to throw up your hands and say nothing can be done about vehicle emissions worldwide! Change has to start somewhere.

You must be on the wind-up, OP. That's an incredibly snotty remark.

Is everyone checking their reg on line, mine is 10 years old and is compliant so it's not just about age.

Mines 9 years old, still selling for 9.5k on auto trader. Why on earth would I scrap it for 2k? It’s going to be sold , probably to someone in a non ulez area and left to continue to “pollute” there. Really makes sense right? 🤷‍♀️

They get shipped out to third world countries, i.e. Nigeria, along with old lorries, buses, ice cream vans etc. if it's too knackered for the UK it will be shipped abroad, I've seen them all being loaded up ready to transport ... great news for the planet.

Of course we should aim for cleaner air - but do you want to consign all older vehicles to landfill over a short time? Wouldn't it be better to move gradually? Vehicle emission technology is improving all the time and there is already a plan to electric only vehicles in future, but are you seriously expecting everyone to get a new car in the next few years?

Who is this " everyone ", you speak of, precisely?

Do you live in a cave?
How big is your own carbon footprint OP?
How many times have you travelled by car/air/any other way, that C02 is produced?
How do you think the food you eat gets to you?
Do you use central heating in the winter? If so, why? What fuel does it use? Gas/oil?
Do you eat foods, including sweets and chocolate, or use other products, shampoo, etc., containing palm oil taken from groves that used to be rainforest? if so, shame on you!