ULEZ

[titbumwillypoo]

Simple solution to all the people moaning about the ULEZ charge. In order to be exempt all you have to do is drive your car into a shipping container, close the doors and run your engine for one hour. If as you say your car isn't that bad you should be fine, as the fumes you pump out on pedestrians should be good enough for you to breathe for an hour?
AIBU- Don't be ridiculous that would kill off loads of drivers who only have access to the most integrated transport system in the country.
YANBU - Sounds like a plan! 😂

Agree!

I also live in (a different bit of) zone 6, public transport here is good if you’re going to certain locations, otherwise it’s a tedious trek into then back out of London on the tube, or a very circuitous route on local buses. And we’re in an area that’s served by both TfL and other bus companies, so it can work out quite expensive. Very few people I know use public transport for anything other than the commute into central London.

YABU because our local train service is very frequently cancelled (averages about 50% running in the past year, so DH often has to ferry DC up to the nearest main station which is about 1 km inside the zone. As DS2 plays a massive iunstrument and both DC are still in uni digs and come and go with big suitvcases, trying to lug everything that final kilometre to save £12.50 seems unfair. But it will get very expensive for us.

My favourite shops are also right by that station but I'm far less likely to use them now if I have to pay an extra £12.50 just to do the weekly supermarket run.

U Lez if U want 2
This lady's not for Lezzing.

You can put one of the exempt supercars in a container and you'll die much quicker.

Lamborghini Aventadors are exempt from ULEZ. Don't tell me that they are not as polluting as a small hatchback.

Khan is also looking at making every motorist pay-per-mile, regardless of pollution. This policy has nothing to do with clean air.

To clean the air and stop climate change and save the nhs we need to stop people driving

And the only way it seems people will change is by hitting their pockets

Having a TESLA probably makes you exempt everywhere.

But it's not just London that has a LEZ/ULEZ: also in Birmingham, Bradford, Bath, Bristol, Portsmouth, Sheffield and Newcastle/Gateshead (not sure about whether planned rollouts in Scotland went ahead on time). Coming soon to Greater Manchester

There are about 320 across Europe

We don't visit the ULEZ places much but if it becomes inconvenient we will buy a new diesel car, it will probably be a lot more gas guzzling than the one we have but it will be compliant

Driving a car causes three major potential problems:

1 CO2 emissions. A problem whenever you drive and wherever you drive. Penalised by road tax, fuel duty and in some areas parking permit charges.
2 Congestion. A problem when you drive almost anywhere except the actual middle of nowhere these days. Penalised by Congestion Charge in central London and some other areas
3 Local Pollution, eg particulates and NOx. A problem when you drive in built up areas. Penalised by Emission Zone charges.

Petrol supercars are terrible for 1, exactly as bad as any other car for 2, and not particularly problematic for 3.

It is therefore not surprising to find that they get charged through the nose for 1 (ten times the amount of a normal car on road tax and god knows how much fuel duty), they get charged exactly the same as any other car for 2, and exactly the same as most cars (ie zero) for 3.

There was a man on the radio earlier talking about how his elderly neighbour will no longer be able to go to the supermarket or take/visit his wife in hospital as the getting there by public transport takes forever and his wife can’t cope with the required walk.

And the moronic thread of the day prize goes to…..

Good post.

I think people forget that pollution both kills and impairs normal lung development of London's children

I’ll be driving my older car more.
I have a child with mobility needs and I’m in an area not close to a bus stop, currently I’ll drive to the tube or train when I have to. If I’m paying £12.50 it’ll be cheaper to just drive the whole way into town 🤷‍♀️
Obviously not replacing it for 1 or 2 journeys a week at £12.50, spending thousands and paying more insurance too.
Give us a bus within a 15 min walk that goes to a tube station then I wouldn’t

Exactly this!

I was emailed by Heathrow Airport about it, as they are now within the boundary when it's extended.

We have electric cars so it shouldn't really be an issue for us as such as would be exempt. Tbh we don't fly from there that often anyway - maybe once a year if that.

However what I didn't realise until I looked into it more - whilst we may be exempt due to the car we have to pay to register that fact at £10 a year iirr. So we can either pay £10 to arrange it in advance or pay £12.50.

We don't usually drive into London if visiting - we are a good 2-4 hours drive away. We usually park and catch the underground in. I guess we will need to check which stations would still be outside of the zone, or try to organise registering our car each year just incase.

Somewhat amused to read this thread and discover (according to some posters) that ULEZ will not only stop the glaciers from melting but will also save the NHS.

And also make Mr Khan a lot of money.

I don't think that's correct. As long as your car is registered in the UK, then you're automatically flagged as ULEZ-exempt. I've certainly never had to register my little petrol car.
https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/check-your-vehicle/

You might be confusing it with the Congestion Charge in Central London (nowhere near Heathrow). For historical reasons you can still get a CC discount for battery electric cars but you need to register for that at a tenner a year.

So we can either pay £10 to arrange it in advance or pay £12.50.

Are you sure? I thought it was all done by ANPR and DVLA records. No need for anyone to register anything (unless you're applying for an extension of compliance period, if that's still in place)

If you live in an outer London borough, you can sometimes have to get 3 buses to go 3 miles west-east.
Then try it at rush hour with a pram and small child and watch the full buses pass by. An hour would not be unusual.
The amazing transport system people speak of is largely the tube/train but that runs north-south or inner London, not the outer boroughs now being targeted.

I don’t deny everyone needs to make sacrifices for climate reasons (we have) but it’s the hardest off who have been disproportionately hit. A care worker told me she’s only accepting work outside the M25 from the start of Ulez as she can’t afford the fines or a new car. That’s a hit on care homes and vulnerable elderly people at home.

😂

I live in Z6, one of my neighbours was ranting about ULEZ not realising his car was exempt.

I even check the reg of my old pre 2000 cars and they were exempt too…

All seems a bit wasteful, we will probably scrap our 1.6L 2015 diesel and buy a new one which will have a larger engine, we bought a diesel originally as they have a longer life, we don't live in an ULEZ zone

This, it's grim. It's a tax on those who cannot afford newer vehicles.
Punish the poor for not being able to afford an electric car

On the various threads I've seen about this in the last week or so, there have always been a few posts with misconceptions about what sorts of vehicles are exempt.

It's emissions level - not age of vehicle (though older cars may well have higher levels and therefore be non-compliant)

So check your registration - here's the TfL tool for that

Check your vehicle (tfl.gov.uk)

It's not a 10 minute wait for a train in those areas though, is it? It used to be every half an hour, and even then it would be late, not to mention costly. It is faster and cheaper to drive to central London from Sidcup.

As for ULEZ, TfL's own data admits that the expansion won't do squit for air quality. The first one did in the inner area, but the second expansion and now this one won't make a jot of difference.

I can't use my relatively clean burning recent car in the city after the end of August, but I can use my 40 odd year old historic, smoke belcher. Go figure?

It's what we were told by the hotel we were going to. We ended up travelling by public transport so didn't take it further.

So glad to hear that we won't have to pay or register if we travel from there next time. Thanks