please empty your brain below

We have a 8-year old VW Golf BlueMotion Diesel. It's so environmentally-friendly that the vehicle tax is only £20/year. On the other hand, it is so environmentally-unfriendly that come 2021, we'll have to pay £12.50/day to use it.

Regards
It should be extended to all of Greater London.
Think of the pollution emitted creating all those new signs, plus replacements extending all the old ones.
Why are Keepers of vehicles registered with a 'disabled' tax class allowed to poison me with impunity?
Living in an outer borough, I have only paid the congestion charge once. I was concerned by the proximity of the boundary to the extended ULEZ zone, which I would regularly cross. Sadly, time caught up with my much beloved 16 year old Nissan Micra and it won't be a problem after all...
I have asthma. It is very mild. Well under control. I rarely use my inhaler.

When I moved to London, the Congestion Charge did not exist. In the summer I would come out of Holborn station and instantly reach for my inhaler because of the pollution. I couldn't breathe. After the congestion charge, it never happened again.

I have had only one major asthma attack in my life. It was in London and it was pre Congestion Charge.

As I car owner (who now doesn't live in London and who didn't own a car in London) I get why people won't be happy. Hey, I bought a diesel in the belief it was the right thing to do!

But as someone who has been affected by the emmisions of vehicles in a very visible way, I get why it needs to be done.
Thanks for the photo of Brewers’ Buildings, Rawstorne St, Finsbury, where I lived, happily, for the first seven years of my life.
I would deny walking round the ULEZ zone is bad for your health. I believe doctors are still of the opinion that the benefits of walking or cycling outweigh any disadvantage caused by pollution or even road traffic collisions.

Of course, better still to walk somewhere that isn't polluted but if the ULEZ incentivises you to walk then that is a good thing.
The VW Bluemotion is Euro 6 so should be exempt. The guide dates are when the Euro standard became compulsory, compliant cars were for sale before this date. There is link on the Tfl wbsite where you can enter your registration number to check.

Regards,

Peter.
Powerfully persuasive to hear Andrew Bowden's positive view of the impact of the congestion charge in his health. My perception was that it made a difference to traffic volumes in the first weeks, but the number of vehicles soon returned to pre-charge levels: perhaps many were less polluting models.

I can certainly see the point of the ULEZ in central London - I work near Thames Street, which is an awfully polluted canyon, particularly the tunnel under Cannon Street, although I understand the level of air pollution down in the Tube is often worse. But I am less persuaded of the necessity at the weekend, in say Barnet or Waltham Forest.

That said, it is easy to underestimate the effect of air pollution, so it will be intesting to see if the ULEZ is reflected in health statistics in the next few years.
Like zin92 I have a small ultra-low emission diesel. It is 5 years old, does 76mpg, has stop-start technology so never idles/pollutes when stationary, and pays zero road tax.

Until recently it was considered so (comparatively) 'environmentally friendly' that it also didn't have to pay the London congestion charge.

Why do I (and others in a similar position) now have to pay when a 13 year old huge petrol-guzzling/much more polluting Chelsea taxi doesn't?

The consequential scrappage of many vehicles before their natural end date will cause MUCH more pollution than continuing to run them until their natural life end.

When one looks at how many new houses are being built right alongside M- and A- roads in this country, saying that this is for health is disingenuous at best. I suspect that the true reason of revenue generation from those of us who tried to do the right thing, environmentally speaking, based on governemnt guidelines just a few years ago. Motorists = cash cows.

Oh and - I've been into London in a car once in the last 5 years, at a time when I had to go, and couldn't have got there any other way.
Oh - and electric cars sound great.

But, if even 20% of the car-owning population gets one, the national grid will break down. It's regulalry almost at breaking point now!

It's not lack of charging points, differing charging systems, or no thought being given to how people who park on the road will charge their vehicles, it's the impossibility of beefing-up the grid to cope that is conveniently being overlooked.

At the same time as people are being pushed towards electric cars, micro-generation subsidies have now gone (as of 31st March) and public transport in non-city areas is being cut. My nearest bus service (which runs twice a day) is now nearly 3 miles away, down narrow country lanes with no pavements and no street lights. And we live 50 miles from central London.
VW is classed Euro 6, should we believe that?
Lord Palmerston....probably turning in his grave.
Money making racket. Another tax by Labour. Getting a few cars to pay won't do much for pollution and they are reducing anyway.

On a similar note the new two way Stratford sytem is causing excessive traffic jams and increasing pollution fourfold. The mayors think they are preventing cars driving through Stratford but all it's done is to push the traffic onto surrounding roads.. Waste of £17m.
Plans for the ULEZ were introduced by Boris Johnson, a Conservative Mayor. That said, Sadiq Khan has speeded up its introduction by eighteen months.
The next stage will be fascinating, as it's an enormous area of London that will be affected. I would query the use of the North and South circulars as a boundary though, as it creates a very uneven ring around London, with far more of North London covered than South London.

Older diesels won't be scrapped, as for people who live outside London they'll be perfectly usable. If I lived in the home counties and never had to drive into the chargeable zone, there will be bargains available...
"Older diesels won't be scrapped"

I think they will... already almost no-one wants to buy diesels (new or second-hand), despite many of them still being more (comparatively) environmentally friendly than many petrol cars.

The fuel and road tax costs, and 'public opinion' are now so set against diesels that, even if the purchase price drops even more than it already has, many current diesels will be scrapped long before the end of their useful lives.

Most small diesels can easily get to 200,000 miles, and larger ones significantly more.

The useful life of a diesel is at least double that of a petrol. Most of the environmental impact of cars is in their initial production and eventual disposal. This fact is frequently conveniently overlooked.
I already live in the Congestion Charging zone, so while we've always had a 90% discount on payment, it's been a concern at the back of my mind ever since the age of seven, when CC was introduced. Not to say that older me, with some understanding of the effects of air pollution (though having grown up inside it) is not a supporter of the zone - far from it - but leaving for every single family holiday at 6am to ensure we're well clear of the boundary by 6:30am has left a few unpleasant memories over the years.

Is it selfish of me to be somewhat happy that proponents of the original zone who just so happened to not actually live inside it are suddenly starting to panic? Bring on 2021...
Thanks to PeterB for pointing out that those dates aren't as clear cut as you'd think. Our cars are a 2002 petrol and a 2010 diesel and, according to the Tfl website, both are exempt from the charge.
There is a microcosm of effect. For one the "gig-economy"...usually undertaken by the poor, will be affected. All those Uber Eats/Just Eats deliveries, the Amazon Flex etc...will most likely be affected by the new levy. Plus many shift-workers will also be hit...as it 24hours. The well-off, rich, wealthy and elite can carry-on and keep calm, safe in the knowledge they can set-up a DD/account and keep driving/polluting to their heart's content. They'll probably drive more to get "their money's worth"...and feel they done their bit by way of carbon footprint offset payment. And if the haulage industry adopt European (French) ideology, may well decide to boycott deliveries into central/inner London...perhaps timed to coincide with the (possible) induced issues at the ports.
As a pedestrian I'd like to see it cover the whole area bounded by the M25. As it stands I'll be just outside the expanded area, so I expect my already busy road will become even more of a rat-run as people scout the outer edges for alternative routes.

As a family we've owned a Nissan Leaf electric car for the last couple of years. It's brilliant - there is no way we'd ever return to an ICE (internal combustion engine) vehicle now. Even so, we never drive into central London. Why would we want to when public transport is so handy, and there's nowhere to park anyway!

Unlike a mobile phone it doesn't need charging every day, unless you drive 80+ miles a day. We only charge it for about 45 mins every other week, as we regenerate most of what we use on short trips - so hardly a drain on the grid!
In fact, having solar panels on our house, we sell more electricity to the grid than we use in charging the car!
The extended zone may become the home for many classic cars, with no ULEZ charge, even though they often produce bad emissions. Combined with no road tax or MOT required, cheap insurance, cheap and easy to maintain, and ideal for shorter journies, I know where to sell my 47 year old. It would still attract the congestion charge though, even though it doesn't take up much room.
A welcome development.

Motorists aren't cash cows, quite the opposite: taking into account the full costs on society, they are subsidised by taxpayers.
John: The exising low emission zone for commercial vehicles covers most of London.
i heard a new announcement at a Zone1 station yesterday - something about the Air Pollution being at a high level (presumably it is always high in central london), and asking people to walk or use bicycles instead of cars!

firstly if you're in a Tube station you're not currently using a car

and secondly, if the pollution is that bad, i'm not about to cycle along those polluted streets (and yes, i know it's possible to cycle along less polluted routes)!
The Reconnections article is excellent on the detail of this but I do also like your photos DG.

I live within the South Circular, own a dirty 30 year old car, a diesel guzzling urban tractor, and have a woodburning stove. And I support the ULEZ, it's the right thing for London to be doing. I just wish I'd known about it before buying that diesel.
Does the pollution from making or disposing of cars mainly from land or water pollution? I must say that these two are not easily noticed by city dwellers. Even for the air pollution it causes, having it at a (definitely) NIMBY place means it mostly dissipates elsewhere, if the wind flow allows.
Remember that half of all particulate matter from vehicles does not come from the engine but actually from brake disk and tyre wear. Therefore, even if every car, bus and taxi in London was electric tomorrow there would still be half the air pollution, way above WHO acceptable levels.

What I really don't understand is that rather than try to help the people affected by this (i.e. help people with older diesel cars to buy less polluting vehicles through a subsidy) the solution seems to be to apply a tax. This happens on all sides of the political spectrum as well (such as the Sugar Tax) and I feel the political motive of these moves is less to help social issues and more to bring more money into government coffers.
"So a 13 year-old petrol-driven car pays nothing, but a 3 year-old diesel-driven van pays full whack."

Not having a go at you, DG, but it's the driver or keeper who pays, not the vehicle. There's a horrible tendency to blame the machine, not the person in charge, as in "He was killed by a speeding car", when it should be " ... by a speeding driver".

"I live within the extended zone but I don't drive, I only breathe, so I'm more than happy to see this groundbreaking scheme rolled out further."

Me too. I completely agree with you.
Hi PeterB,

My diesel VW Bluemotion from 2011 isn't Euro 6. I'd already confirmed this by entering my registration on the ULEZ website. Some later models would be Euro 6.

Regards
One anomaly with the extended ULEZ boundary is that the A4 between the Chiswick and Hogarth roundabouts is exempt. I'm guessing this is because you can't exit the M4 onto Chiswick roundabout so non-compliant vehicles need a way to avoid the zone.

The alternative would be to force them to leave at J2 but then you'd effectively be applying the ULEZ to a section of motorway, which TfL have no responsibility for which is probably legally problematic.
Interesting point about "risking my lungs every time I went out". Are there any statistics concerning how much of the nasty stuff gets indoors ?
The handful of parking spaces on the A4 between Chiswick and Hogarth Roundabouts might become the most sought after parking in London.
For those trying to compare their VED rates and the new ULEZ compliance, you're comparing apples and oranges.

VED for cars registered between 2001 and 2017 is based solely on CO2, but CO2 is not one of the pollutants measured in the Euro standard that the ULEZ uses (because CO2's effects are purely global, not local).
The five outer London boroughs south of the Thames have a grand total of zero Tube stations between them. NR trains are less frequent and more expensive, so there is less opportunity to switch from car to public transport south of the River.
There was some talk (probably still is but I don't go on that forum any more) about whether this would affect boats. Fortunately the 'vintage vehicle' exemption would let me out. I probably get a year's worth of roadside diesel fumes in a fortnight's boating, standing behind the exhaust for ten hours a day. If that doesn't get me the sunshine will.
Watch Khan delay the launch of the extended scheme as Crossrail still won’t be ready by then.
London (and much of UK) has had poor air quality most of this week, this always happens when we get Easterly or South easterly wind as the air has passed over cities in mainland Europe before reaching us.
We get cleaner air with the Atlantic westerlies.
The new charging scheme should help to reduce local pollution.
A good site, with regular updates, to check air quality is here.
I believe the extended period for disabled vehicles was mainly around the Motability scheme. Motability vehicles are generally on a 5 year lease so if they had to comply with the 2021 date then many leases would have to be terminated early. Obviously there must have been some pressure exerted there.

Personally I have a disabled vehicle (not under the Motability scheme) so am rather grateful about this.

However I am much aggrieved that I originally bought my diesel car in 2009 at a time when diesel cars were being touted as "greener". My car runs well and I wasn't intending to change it just yet. I suppose I could go onto the Motability scheme but that's going to lose me a lot of money. Being disabled the only way I can get around is by car - I can't use my mobility scooter on buses or tube.

My only way out is to move out of London, which is probably not a bad idea but I hate that I'm kind of being forced into it.
Seems a bit unfair that if you go out in the evening but arrive back after midnight you'll be stung with two days' charges ! That will also hit a lot of night time economy workers who aren't served by any overnight public transport.

I'm surprised that they haven't standardised on the same 0429 cut-off time that trains use.
Perhaps we could look at exemptions.
Presumably Blessed Theresa of Maidenhead and her Ministers( and lesser MPs and Lords would not have to pay).
What about the Queen?
Again, senior officials of TFL and the good Mr Khan and his senior (not the plebs who work for him) would be exempt in their official limos.
It's surely won't be possible to monitor the millions of vehicle movements inside the proposed enlarged zone. If the penalty is actually for living inside the zone and owning an unsuitable vehicle then they can get that information from DVLC records and simply send us all an annual bill for £4000!
James, it's more than likely that said official limos will be petrol cars under 13 years of age, in which case, yes, they would be exempt.
I'm not sure it's true that diesels last longer than petrols any more, as they are so much more complicated than the ones from 20 years ago. The DPF filters are so expensive to replace, that they can make the car worthless

My point though is for anyone living far enough outside the ULEZ zones for them not to be a factor, if secondhand prices fall for diesels, then they will be able to pick up some real bargains.
Hopefully he wont be mayor after May 2020 and the extension will be scrapped or at least modified to give honest owners a personal sunset clause. I have a 14 year old diesel car, it cost £26K new, is top of the range and has 47K on the clock. I am being penalised by a law that is punitive, retrospective and as I am retired unable to change my car which should have another 13+ years life in it until I reach 70.
I wonder if other cities in the UK will implement it. Sadly, given how few have implemented a Congestion Charge like London, it doesn't look like many will.










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