ULEZ compliance, getting V5C altered, emissions testing etc.

Gr9 thread Jonny, thank you

It seems their checker is a waste of time, I've just tried to register my 1973 Elan and when you put the detail in the registration page .

found by typing "register vehicle" in the search box top right hand corner of home page
scrolling down and selecting start box
selecting vehicle type car then scrolling down to continue box
typing in reg no and clicking find vehicle box
then clicking confirm and continue
I get this


so it seems we don't need to do anything for post 73 historics, its the same for my 1980 TR7V8.

Seems the equivalent standards are

Petrol: Euro 4 (NOx)

Diesel: Euro 6 (NOx and PM)

Yeh, when the ULEZ was first conceived their website stated that "pre 73 vehicles" were exempt but I belive that was a mistake as it has now been amended to simply 'historic vehicles are exempt'. (Obviously someone in the office doesnt have a clue that historic exemption hasn't been frozen at 1972 for years now!)

However thier "checker" has clearly been programmed to work at the 1973 cut off date and I would imagine has no facility built in to check the log book details for historic status. As far as I can see it works by the emissions data on the log book so cars with no data are automatically in unless registered pre 73.

Insted of us all registering our cars with them would it not be more sensible for the community to lobby TFL to get thier system in order and either introduce a rolling exemption based on the year or to modify their software to read historic status from logbook data? It's got the be easier for them than having to process loads of false fines/requests and hand out a load of unlawful fines that then have the be repealed on appeal.

I've not taken my 78 vehicle in yet but I'm tempted to just to cause a fuss and see what happens. It may be that they amend thier error properly once they start having to deal with the fall out.

This is assuming of course that you even get given a fine which I'm doubtful you will as they seem to realise your car is exempt as soon as you mention it to them. Someone need to try!

∆∆this
Having been fined several years ago for going round the block to turn round, and inadvertently gone into the congestion charge zone, without realising it, this seems like a great solution to me.

My daily 2015 C220d was Euro 6, but, being a 15 plate and not a 65 plate, the checker didn't think it was. I had to get a letter with my VIN, Reg number and confirmation of Euro 6 status emailed to me from Mercedes (this was free) and then send it into TfL to be exempt from the charge. I was only alerted to this by a fine which they wouldn't overturn despite it being a Euro 6 diesel. Moral of the story, check the checker first and then take it from there.

Add anywhere with a Clean Air Zone (CAZ). That's

Brum
Bradford - PLGs are exempt
Bath
Bristol
Porstmouth - Class B only (Cars are exempt unless they are a taxi)

This can be used to check for those areas

www.gov.uk/clean-air-zones

Here's my 2p.

TLDR : it's frustrating, but I do get why they do it.

With motorbikes, the engines are small, and unless it's a 20 odd stone chap on the bike, the engine won't be as loaded as much. If Eu4 is anything like Eu7, it will be more than just tailpipe emissions measures, which again on a bike, are way easier to check. There is almost nothing to remove on non-faired bikes, and there is less of it! You only have to go to a bike MOT to see that.

The check on cars is available, but due to the above, it's way more involved. I think Dave found somewhere who did it, but it's around £10k basically, as the car is gone through top and bottom, and driven around to get a reflective figure that can go onto the V5. To load the engine up etc. and see how dirty they are. To do this in the lab, is quite a big deal. Even a rolling road would want probably the best part of £200+ these days (if not double?) just to use the RR to do it, and that's without further measuring equipment. You'd ideally have an RR which could do 4x4s etc.

There is more to emissions than MPG. You can go around the back of my 325d (M57'd 3.0 unit), and then around the back of my now sold C209 270CDI, and I know which one gave me and my mates a headache faster and which wreaked of diesel fumes. Same for a 55MPG PD Passat vs something like a 640d. EGRs, despite causing clogging of the intake on town/short journey'd cars, and to some, being annoying, do vastly reduce NOx emissions, which is what was cited as the problem with diesels. Euro 3 and 4 is where brands actively took steps to reduce this, which Euro 6 trying harder again (2 lots of EGR coolers on cars, and the introduction of Ad Blue aftertreatment systems).

Going in a Mk2 Golf today, we all commented about how we loved the smell of the exhaust, but that we also don't have our newer cars do it as much. My M3 is probably he closest car to it, but even that is way better, and oddly, ULEZ compliant.

To be fair, we do have other choices. I've taken a few. I

-Shop more locally. I'm not spending a small fortune in petrol/diesel to go to a soulless supermarket, and it's not alot cheaper
-Cycle to places
-Motorbike more. It's way more convenient around town, less impacting to traffic, and I get around traffic faster. Granted it comes with risks, but us driving old cars does anyway, if we are being blunt with ourselves. There's less wear and tear on the road, less space taken up on the road, and it helps traffic overall flow better.

Regarding private jets, I'm sure they pay for it. I doubt taxing them is pocket change. We can as well to be fair.

As a wise woman once told me, you are the traffic. It took me a while to grasp that concept, but she was absolutely right. Right from the type of cars we own, to how we drive them (including roadcraft etc.), and how we use them and other options around us.