Forum Topic

ULEZ

Is ULEZ coming to Town in 2 years time

Steve Dennant ● 2752d42 Comments

ULEZ is in the congestion charge zone now. It comes to the rest of London* inside the N & S Circular Roads in October 2021. *except the A4 in Chiswick. Keep on coughing.

Ken Munn ● 2752d

Will have to change my 25 year old SAAB

Steve Dennant ● 2752d

Or just park it on the A4! How can they exempt the worst polluting passageway?!

Caroline Carrington ● 2752d

The toxic particulate plume behind most black cabs will continue to spew forth as they are exempt.

Will Watson ● 2752d

Ha Ha That is fine but then I have to get to work All they want is your money MOT test will pass your car but TFL will not

Steve Dennant ● 2752d

I cant see why Black Cabs are exempt if they are over 13 years old Perhaps i have got it wrong

Steve Dennant ● 2752d

"London-licensed taxis are exempt from ULEZ charges. They are currently subject to a 15-year age limit - until 26 April 2019 we are consulting on proposals to reduce this to 12 years."

Will Watson ● 2752d

I will buy a Black Cab or get a Horse and Cart

Steve Dennant ● 2752d

The way things are going a horse and cart will be the better option.No MOT or road tax.No ridiculously taxed fuel to keep it running.No problem with starting on a cold morning.Able to carry all your shoppihg home.The benefits are endless so why don't we just say b*llocks to Tfl and the government.Stick all your motoring taxes.We'll just stick to thr horse and cart (as long as it's not cold or raining)Perhaps Tfl would build Neddy superhighways for us with a horse friendly track and watering stations evety five miles.Of course,despite the huge expense there would be no cost to the user.Think how much better off you would be.Until 80% taxes were applied to bales of hay and equine food.Then there would be the very expensive check by the government vet once a year to make sure neddy isn't going to keel over.Of course,your cart would have to carry an identifying plate so that you could get huge fines for travelling at more than 3 mph in a built up area.And,because horse produce a huge amount of gas you'd be excluded from central London unless you wanted to pay a huge daily farting tax.Perhaps it's just better to stay with the car after all

Andy Pease ● 2752d

I've seen black cabs on 03 plates in the last few weeks.  Either they are being used illegally, or this policy isn't working properly.

Al Webber ● 2752d

Pity the poor flat dweller - not any room for neddy or the cart!

Jennifer Selig ● 2752d

Ha, and if you leave the pub blotto neddy will know the way home, expect they would still still ban the owner, drunk in charge of a horse and cart.

Janice Evans ● 2751d

Talking of clever animals.A friend of mine lives a couple of miles away from Peter Tavy in Devon.It's smack bang in the middle of Dartmoor and there are only muddy tracks across the moors.No roads.My friend drives a Land Rover Discovery to cope with the tracks.But when he goes to the pub and gets rata*sed he took his Border Collie,Buck with him.When he left the pub,it would be pitch black as there are is no lighting of any kind.So he would let Buck go and he would go and stand in the front of the Land Rover.When the car was started,Buck would take off across the moors leading my friend home.He got him there every time.Nothing to do with ULEZ.But a briliiant dog

Andy Pease ● 2751d

If you car/ motorbike/scooter is on the borderline you can try for a CERTIFICATE OF CONFORMITY.Some older vehicles may pass, the catch is there is only one place in London authorised to carry out the test.It's the far side of Town and the thieving sods want to charge £175 for my 2001 scooter.Annoying!

Adrian Irving ● 2751d

Andy, was going to say what a clever dog apart from the fact he had a drunk driver on his trail... Tail !

Janice Evans ● 2751d

That's the point.It didn't matter he was over the limit.There was NOTHING he could hit.He was driving over moorland in the pitch black.There was never any chance of Buck being hit.He would dart from side to side never wandering in front of the Disco for too long.The police in this area are non existant.They have a part time officer equipped with a police Land Rover Defender.This can usually be found in the car park of the Peter Tavey Inn.Wbere the driver can usually be found in the bar necking pints

Andy Pease ● 2751d

😀

Janice Evans ● 2750d

Reason why Black Cabs get special treatment is because there are over 20,000 of them, they're very organised, all voters, fancy themselves as "opinion formers" and so every London Mayor, of whatever party, is scared of them. "I had that Sadiq Khan in the back of my cab, once — soon put him right and no mistake. Now that'll be £17.50, oh and sorry, but I don't think I've change for your twenty pound note..." 

Richard Cathcart ● 2750d

1) Are all diesel cars to be chargeable in the ulez zone?2) When do the qualifications for ulez next get tightened up, and which are the next types of cars to fall within those ulez regulations?

James Petri ● 2644d

1) Not yet.  Euro VI diesels are not charged - including the very large number of them that don't meet the new Euro VI real world tests.  Euro VI is approximately anythign after 2014, so any diesel under 7 years old will be ok when it is implemented as things stand.2)  Don't know.  Hopefully they add the dodgy Euro VI diesels that don't actually meet Euro VI ASAP.  I suspect that Euro VI diesels will certainly be in the next group to be added.  What I'm not sure of is whether they will add any more petrol cars at that point, or leave it for a couple of years. They may start charging for anything that isn't hybrid or electric.  They will probably start charging for anything that isn't hybrid or fully electric within 10 to 12 years, if not before.

Al Webber ● 2644d

Dear Jamesalmost all diesel cars produced after September 2015 will be Euro 6 compliant, so there will be no ULEZ charge. However there are approximately 12.9 million diesel cars on the road of which 9.5 million are not Euro 6 compliant.  So there will be the huge environmental cost of scrapping a lot of older cars, and the cost to the environment of building a lot of new cars.  It's a great pity they didn't do more research into seeing if there is a cost effective way of modifying older vehicles to reduce NO2 emissions which is the greatest concern with diesel.  As the 'compliant' cars are much newer, there will be a large number of people who just wont be able to afford to change cars, especially as their old non-compliant cars will be almost worthless.  Its ironic that only 10 years ago the Government were bribing us to buy diesel cars with lower tax rates.To answer Caroline's comment as to why is the A4 exempt, it is only exempt up to the Hogarth Roundabout and the reason being that if people miss the signs that they are entering the ULEZ at the Chiswick flyover, they can turn around at the Hogarth Roundabout and go back, without incurring the charge.

Richard Bryson ● 2643d

I have to have a car in order to maintain my independence and continue to get out and about.  I still make the odd longish trip of say 200 miles to see friends and relatives but most journeys now are local ones.  I like to take friends so a 5 door hatch with a roomy boot for all my oxygene equipment and luggage - not safe to leave things showing on the back seat!  In the event I need to change my car, can anyone recommend a suitable replacement?  Happy for it to be a used but reliable one and spend between £5,000 to £10,000 max.  Have I any chance?

Jennifer Selig ● 2643d

I have, with regret, just sold my twenty five year old Merc that never failed the MoT and was in perfect condition.The ULEZ was partly the reason.I also have Honda 125 scooter first registered in 2001. Again in perfect order.When I checked on the TfL website it came up as liable for the charge.Not happy to accept that I have been in touch with customer services at Honda and very helpfully they are going to send me confirmation that it is ULEZ compliant.I then have to send this to Tfl, so not quite out of the woods yet.If you have an older vehicle it may pay you to speak to the manufacturer just to double check the position.

Adrian Irving ● 2643d

Rather than scrap a perfectly good Euro 5 diesel and get an expensive and impractical electric car, it might be better to go to a more rural part of the country and trade it in for an equally old and cheap petrol car, which is exempt from the ULEZ. I still don't see how the millions of vehicle movements inside the proposed enlarged ULEZ (bounded by the N and S Circular roads) can ever by monitored and recorded.

Peter Evans ● 2643d

might be our new fantastic PM might scrap the lot LOL

Steve Dennant ● 2643d

Shame about the guy who sold his 25 year old MERC...........

Steve Dennant ● 2643d

Further to my post (see below) I am happy to say I have had confirmation from TfL that my scooter is compliant,this despite their website saying it was not because of its age.Worth checking if you have an older vehicle.(Honda customer services were first rate and TfL were not far behind despite their tedious application process)"I also have Honda 125 scooter first registered in 2001. Again in perfect order.When I checked on the TfL website it came up as liable for the charge.Not happy to accept that I have been in touch with customer services at Honda and very helpfully they are going to send me confirmation that it is ULEZ compliant.I then have to send this to Tfl, so not quite out of the woods yet.If you have an older vehicle it may pay you to speak to the manufacturer just to double check the position."

Adrian Irving ● 2631d

Seems like this is back with us. As SK is claiming his mandate has been given from the May election, any chance of a transition period?

Keith Welham ● 1990d

There won't be a transition period. Extension of the ULEZ was first announced almost three years ago I'm afraid.Sadly cars are commoditised with a life expectancy far lower than you might expect. No manufacturer will admit to planned obsolescence but the 'lifespan' of some models is getting shorter and shorter. Just lone enough to last the duration of the warranty seems to be par for the course.

N V Brooks ● 1990d

Modern cars last so much longer than used to be the case because of great  strides forward in materials and rust prevention. I recently disposed of my 2003 VW Golf with less than 20k miles on it, and after a polish it was looking as good as the day I bought it. Fortunately for me it was ahead of its time in its Euro rating and therefore exempt for ULEZ purposes. I managed to get a few hundred pounds for it and I expect it will go on for years unless taken off the road by future emissions legislation. The irony is that a car bought now is likely to have a much shorter lifespan - thanks to the extent to which they rely on computer technology. I've lost count of the number of devices (phones, tablets, entertainment tech etc) that I've had to throw away because the manufacturer deemed them obsolete and not able to run the latest firmware or hardware. And that's before the problem of battery replacement - especially if Apple ever makes a car! I'm yet to be convinced that we're on the right road in this respect. My old laptops and phones  tend to be shoved in a cupboard  - not an option with a car.

Bruce Hammal ● 1990d

You are absolutely right. I used to keep my cars in tip top condition with a basic took kit. Never had an MOT failure or even an advisory. Workshop manuals were rudimentary because you knew what components did. Now, I regret a workshop manual may just as well be for your latest computer with only limited reference to repairable or adjustable components.

N V Brooks ● 1990d

"ULEZ Khan" must know there are more motorist-friendly ways to tackle London's pollution notwithstanding that a deal of the pollution floats over from other domains outside of the UK. Haven't we had 'sahara dust' coat our motors of an occasion? There are infrastructural ways, albeit not scammable with the kind of ULEZ taxing that Khan is able to accrue off of motorists, which would attend to lessening London's pollutants. I'm furious to have to ditch my 2006 from new diesel bought when diesel was recommended. The car is still very reliable with a full service history and has in 15 years just clocked 30,000 miles which is nothing being an average of motoring 2000 miles a year. My diesel will likely have emitted less pollution than other younger fuelled cars that have travelled 1000s of miles more in less years. Will I buy electric? Not at all when communist China is contracted to produce the UK's electricity along with French finance at least with Hinckley Point. Driving electric is fraught with lack of nationwide charging infrastructure. One reads of a new kind of 'motoring anxiety' electric car drivers suffer when driving and seeing low charging on their cars and with no indication where a convenient charge point is available.

Bobbie Carnegie ● 1990d

I'm afraid this is done and dusted. Trying to stop it will just be p***ing into the wind.

Susan Kelly ● 1990d

Four times each year I drive to West Wales in just under five hours (it's rural). The same journey by public transport would take nine hours and involve four changes. It is also, even with booking weeks in advance' almost three times the cost of driving  a family.No option for electric, the distance is too far for all but the most expensive electric vehicle and there is one charging point around ten miles from our destination (there is not even a mobile signal let along charging infrastructure).My Euro VId Diesel will be with me for some time yet.

N V Brooks ● 1990d

Reducing pollution is no bad thing at all but a simple total ban on wood burning stoves would make far far more difference.

N V Brooks ● 1990d

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-21443439https://www.london.gov.uk/press-releases/mayoral/ultra-low-emission-zoneThe ULEZ for London was announced in 2013 by the Mayor of London who was at that time Boris Johnson.

Philippa Bond ● 1990d

Correct and a very good way to cut particulate pollution. Eight years notice in effect and the spread to outer London should come as no real surprise. Now to ban wood and wood pellet stoves as the particulate output makes even the dirtiest Diesel look like a mountain breeze.

N V Brooks ● 1990d

It’s all fair enough. It’s just that I was out of the country for six years and didn’t really pay attention thinking that this related to vans etc. So, my recently bought rather old diesel has now become almost worthless.

Keith Welham ● 1990d

Not if you sell it outside London.

N V Brooks ● 1989d

I'm hoping to trade in my non-compliant diesel for an equally old but compliant petrol version of the same car at some out of town dealer where it should still have some value.

Peter Evans ● 1989d

The nonsense it that many Diesel variants now have LOWER CO2 output than their direct petrol equivalent. The NOX and particulates are scrubbed from the exhaust gases by AdBlue and the Diesel Particulate Filter to the point where in the worse polluted areas the exhaust particulates are lower then the air being drawn in.

N V Brooks ● 1989d

Just be aware that there are other cities with Low Emission Zones.

Philippa Bond ● 1989d