The Ultra Low Emission Zone - what it means for you!

Simply means I will not visit or do any deliveries/work or anything else in the hole that is where I was born, its a hateful place now, ruined even more by a prat of a so called mayor,and i have refrained from using true language to describe what I think of him!lol

The thing that gets me is that I never think that this is about clean air at all, it's just about raising revenue. As far as I'm concerned if clean air was actually the priority then the thing to do is to get everyone to use public transport. The best way to do that as far as I can see is to make all public transport free. I read somewhere recently that public transport is so heavily subsidised that it might as well be free, I think the report I read said that the government spends something like £5bn on public transport subsidies, which I think is around double the amount spent on NHS A&E services across the country. Therefore, if clean air really is the priority, then free public transport is the way forward. I reckon that a lot of people would give up their cars if they knew that they could just hop on a bus or train and get to wherever they're going for nothing.

Welcome to the wonderful world of politics where a knee-jerk reaction which targets the wrong people is seen as "progress". 

I am lucky enough to not live in a city centre or anywhere near London, but I am worried that the model will be used to put similar schemes into place in larger towns too. Granted if I ever drive to Colchester now I use the park and ride simply because driving in Colchester is a massive pain in the butt. However, for all the posturing about how awesome this is for the environment, it is still using a big dirty diesel bus and of the 25 people on it, at least 70% were couples. I would imagine that everyone using their car rather than the big smelly bus (and it did stink on Saturday) would not be too much worse for the environment. Plus there's always an oddball on the bus who wants to talk to you (I don't mean Mrs Bounce). 

I do want to breathe cleaner air (I have rubbish lungs anyway) but until there's a cleaner way forward enforced on big business and airline travel, I will feel somewhat hard done by as a car owner. Public transport is not up to the job in most towns/cities from my experience. And I do dislike the fact that car drivers are seen as the bad guys - it's a clever bit of government marketing that most non-car people with their modern hybrid cars on finance will buy into. I for one cannot afford an additional £200 a month to get a "new" low emission car, hence I buy something cheaper and older. And I believe there are a number of people like me. I won't get into debt just for the sake of of owning a flash new motor. 

It is a difficult situation, but a sudden blanket revenue raiser is not the answer. As stated above, small businesses will struggle as a result. There's only so many hits that we can take financially. The only 2 ways I go to London now is to drive to Newbury park and tube in (Hateful), or get the train in which is also a horrid experience on the East Anglian line. Therefore I avoid London whenever I can now.

This is why I don't live near that there london

This amuses me the most:

Historic vehicles
You can apply to stop paying vehicle tax if your vehicle was built more than 40 years ago. This date moves forward on a 40-year rolling system. Assuming the rules stay the same, when the ULEZ launches in April 2019, vehicles built before 1979 will be eligible to apply for historic vehicle tax class.
All vehicles that have a historic vehicle tax class will be exempt from the ULEZ. This tax class excludes any vehicle used commercially (for example, coffee vans or street food vans).

So I can take Dad's 2.0 pinto capri into town, belching god knows what into the air but my 1.9CDTI Signum is a £12.50 a day job.

There is another issue in that the DVLA have been incorrectly registering EU6 vehicles with the incorrect emissions values on the log book, meaning that EU6 diesels that are eligible are coming through as not. Going to cause me a lot of issues, with a potential new job working with schools that will be affected in 2021 I will be likely upgrading the Signum (EU4 1.9CDTI Auto) to a C220 Bluetec Estate (EU6) but they are all registered incorrectly meaning I'll have to jump through hoops to not pay it.

There’s always a choice, like say move 150 miles north, live/rent a house that’s a fifth of the price, have a far better standard of living, with somewhere to park & all available on probably half the wages

Sounds like a decent plan but make sure the place you move to isn't also starting to charge (Hint : avoid Birmingham, Leeds, Nottingham, Derby and Southampton. Others to be confirmed...)   www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/birminghams-new-clean-air-zone-14802158  

The worrying thing is that they are angling to do the same curse word all over the country. Same thing is going to happen here in Birmingham all in the name of thier latest fad 'air quality'

All I can hope is classics will be exempt here too. Can't wait to turn the pump up on an old diesel and do laps of the city centre all day.

I can totally understand all of the above points of view.

This is the result of poor air quality in London: www.lbc.co.uk/radio/presenters/james-obrien/mum-daughters-death-linked-to-london-air-pollution/

One of the subsequent discussions with the Mayor of London covered the issue of a small business having to sell their current fleet that doesn't meet the emissions levels at a massive loss. They would only be moved to somewhere else in the country that doesn't have strict emission restrictions.

What is the solution? Who knows. As far as I can see there is no solution that will please even half then people concerned. (Sound familiar? That just seems to be what politics and life is all about.😞)