People complaining about the ULEZ

[Simon]

Let's just remind ourselves of the rules. If you drive a car approx older than 2006 for a petrol or 2015 for a diesel then you pay extra to drive in central London (the area of land with the best public transport system in the country). It'll get expanded to North and South Circs in 2021, but by then your 2006 car will be 15 years old. It's not like they're making people rush out and buy an EV.

I can count on the fingers of Captain Cooks bad hand the number of times I've needed to drive into the Congestion Charge zone. Why do it to yourself?

[GG.]

Yes the part coming into force now is not going to radically affect a lot of people (or not without them having other available options).

The rollout in 2021 to the area within the South Circular is a different order of magnitude, however. The argument "your 2006 car will be 15 years old" obviously doesn't apply to diesels which could be only 7. Ethically it really should be combined with a grant scheme for newer diesel cars.

Its also annoying if you're even contemplated purchasing a modern (or not so modern) classic as until it qualifies for the >40 year old exemption for tax as a historic, it won't be exempt from the ULEZ. Every time I'm choking on the fumes of a 2013 diesel which still stink like f*ck, I find it hard to object to the scheme as a whole however.

I guess it also hopefully weeds out a lot of people that buy 15 year old £300 shitboxes, stick half inflated landsail tyres on it and shove a backhander to a local MOT station to get it through its ticket once a year. There seem to be an inordinate amount of those around, clogging up residential streets and being moved once every couple of months.

[Mito Man]

Considering that by 2021 3.5 million people will be living within the ULEZ it’s not really something avoidable for most people is it?

[GG.]

Not really. I guess another pretty big concern is really whether once all the infrastructure is in place, whether they start rolling the cut off date forward and then when EVs get enough of a foothold it provides a mechanism to charge all ICE vehicles.

[Simon]

The rollout in 2021 to the area within the South Circular is a different order of magnitude, however. The argument "your 2006 car will be 15 years old" obviously doesn't apply to diesels which could be only 7. Ethically it really should be combined with a grant scheme for newer diesel cars.

But why are 'you' buying a diesel to drive around London?

And to grant schemes - no, no, no. The taxpayer should not be subsidising average Joe to get any diesel cars, and petrol-hybrids and EVs are becoming ubiquitous now for people to just buy one of those themselves instead.

[GG.]

The rollout in 2021 to the area within the South Circular is a different order of magnitude, however. The argument "your 2006 car will be 15 years old" obviously doesn't apply to diesels which could be only 7. Ethically it really should be combined with a grant scheme for newer diesel cars.

But why are 'you' buying a diesel to drive around London?

And to grant schemes - no, no, no. The taxpayer should not be subsidising average Joe to get any diesel cars, and petrol-hybrids and EVs are becoming ubiquitous now for people to just buy one of those themselves instead.

I don't disagree, but the morons in government incentivised or at least facilitated that behavior by giving diesels a tax banding based only on CO2 - there should have been an additional NOx tax added on top to reflect the fact that they're terrible polluters.

I wouldn't offer a subsidy to buy a diesel car - that I agree with. When I say "for newer diesel cars" I meant the eligibility for a grant would be for those with diesels that are not too old (as we're basically saying a car needs to be of a minimum standard to enter that area and if you're driving around a 20 year old crock you can't expect to qualify) but those that bought a 2010 to 2014 model before this scheme was announced. As the public has been incentivised to buy diesel and then had a tax slapped on them and probably would have to part ex a long way out of London to get a semi decent trade in price, I think it is fair to offer them some sort of recompense for that.

[scotta]

Yes the part coming into force now is not going to radically affect a lot of people (or not without them having other available options).

The rollout in 2021 to the area within the South Circular is a different order of magnitude, however. The argument "your 2006 car will be 15 years old" obviously doesn't apply to diesels which could be only 7. Ethically it really should be combined with a grant scheme for newer diesel cars.

Its also annoying if you're even contemplated purchasing a modern (or not so modern) classic as until it qualifies for the >40 year old exemption for tax as a historic, it won't be exempt from the ULEZ. Every time I'm choking on the fumes of a 2013 diesel which still stink like f*ck, I find it hard to object to the scheme as a whole however.

I guess it also hopefully weeds out a lot of people that buy 15 year old £300 shitboxes, stick half inflated landsail tyres on it and shove a backhander to a local MOT station to get it through its ticket once a year. There seem to be an inordinate amount of those around, clogging up residential streets and being moved once every couple of months.

Theres the problem as well though. your 2013 diesel argument. My 2013 318d is EXACTLY the same as a 2014 318d yet when the bring these ULEZ zones into Glasgow mines isn allowed but the EXACT same 2014 car is.

[GG.]

Yes the part coming into force now is not going to radically affect a lot of people (or not without them having other available options).

The rollout in 2021 to the area within the South Circular is a different order of magnitude, however. The argument "your 2006 car will be 15 years old" obviously doesn't apply to diesels which could be only 7. Ethically it really should be combined with a grant scheme for newer diesel cars.

Its also annoying if you're even contemplated purchasing a modern (or not so modern) classic as until it qualifies for the >40 year old exemption for tax as a historic, it won't be exempt from the ULEZ. Every time I'm choking on the fumes of a 2013 diesel which still stink like f*ck, I find it hard to object to the scheme as a whole however.

I guess it also hopefully weeds out a lot of people that buy 15 year old £300 shitboxes, stick half inflated landsail tyres on it and shove a backhander to a local MOT station to get it through its ticket once a year. There seem to be an inordinate amount of those around, clogging up residential streets and being moved once every couple of months.

Theres the problem as well though. your 2013 diesel argument. My 2013 318d is EXACTLY the same as a 2014 318d yet when the bring these ULEZ zones into Glasgow mines isn allowed but the EXACT same 2014 car is.

The London system doesn't work like that - its based on Euro standard ratings so some petrols pre-06 and some diesels pre-15 will qualify if the engines are up to standard. Registration date is irrelevant. Basically, Glasgow has a badly thought out and arbitrary system if it works as you say. 2006 and 2015 were the dates cars had to comply with the standards.

[IanF]

Yes the part coming into force now is not going to radically affect a lot of people (or not without them having other available options).

The rollout in 2021 to the area within the South Circular is a different order of magnitude, however. The argument "your 2006 car will be 15 years old" obviously doesn't apply to diesels which could be only 7. Ethically it really should be combined with a grant scheme for newer diesel cars.

Its also annoying if you're even contemplated purchasing a modern (or not so modern) classic as until it qualifies for the >40 year old exemption for tax as a historic, it won't be exempt from the ULEZ. Every time I'm choking on the fumes of a 2013 diesel which still stink like f*ck, I find it hard to object to the scheme as a whole however.

I guess it also hopefully weeds out a lot of people that buy 15 year old £300 shitboxes, stick half inflated landsail tyres on it and shove a backhander to a local MOT station to get it through its ticket once a year. There seem to be an inordinate amount of those around, clogging up residential streets and being moved once every couple of months.

Theres the problem as well though. your 2013 diesel argument. My 2013 318d is EXACTLY the same as a 2014 318d yet when the bring these ULEZ zones into Glasgow mines isn allowed but the EXACT same 2014 car is.

No, there’s a reg checker that see if your car is Euro 4 or 6 compliant. It’s not done by age per se.

[Mito Man]

They want London to be a “Zero Carbon” city by 2050 so I imagine that internal combustion engines will be fully banned by then if not sooner. As for TFL they have done fuck all the facilitate this or make people switch to electric cars.

From their website

“There are currently more than 150 rapid charge points across London - we're committed to installing at least 300 by 2020.”

300 rapid chargers across all of London by 2020. Morons.

There’s also no confidence in knowing what to buy if you want to buy a used car. Say you buy a 2010 petrol, how do you know it won’t be banned in 2 years time?

[GG.]

Exactly. This is exactly why regulation can be extremely damaging as its often done with no thought for the people it affects or if they have thought about it they've decided to just do it anyway and ignore people that suffer as a result.

ETA: and also people like my neighbour that bought a 944 S2. I guess he'll have to sell it when the charge comes in or spend 8 years paying through the nose until its 40 years old and can be re-registered. Thats a big price to pay for any classic but non-historic car.

[scotta]

Yes the part coming into force now is not going to radically affect a lot of people (or not without them having other available options).

The rollout in 2021 to the area within the South Circular is a different order of magnitude, however. The argument "your 2006 car will be 15 years old" obviously doesn't apply to diesels which could be only 7. Ethically it really should be combined with a grant scheme for newer diesel cars.

Its also annoying if you're even contemplated purchasing a modern (or not so modern) classic as until it qualifies for the >40 year old exemption for tax as a historic, it won't be exempt from the ULEZ. Every time I'm choking on the fumes of a 2013 diesel which still stink like f*ck, I find it hard to object to the scheme as a whole however.

I guess it also hopefully weeds out a lot of people that buy 15 year old £300 shitboxes, stick half inflated landsail tyres on it and shove a backhander to a local MOT station to get it through its ticket once a year. There seem to be an inordinate amount of those around, clogging up residential streets and being moved once every couple of months.

Theres the problem as well though. your 2013 diesel argument. My 2013 318d is EXACTLY the same as a 2014 318d yet when the bring these ULEZ zones into Glasgow mines isn allowed but the EXACT same 2014 car is.

No, there’s a reg checker that see if your car is Euro 4 or 6 compliant. It’s not done by age per se.

Not for the Glasgow scheme - as is always the case for Scottish councils - the cheapest way wins no matter if its retarded bollocks or not.

[nuttinnew]

How long has the wider ULEZ been known about? Was it from the same time as the now current ULEZ?
It won't affect me directly, but it'll be annoying that the Blackwall Tunnel comes into it, an alternate route when the M25/Dartford Crossing is solid. Zones have got to end somewhere though and using the north and south circular make it about as easy to implement and remember as possible.

[GG.]

Not entirely sure when the rollout to the area inside the north and south circulars was announced. I've been aware of it for maybe a year at most.

[Mito Man]

I remember rumours of it when looking for my Defender, hence I decided on a post 2012 one due to the Euro 5 diesel. The TFL registration check said it was exempt until February of this year although by then I did think the website was incorrect.

[Gwaredd]

I can count on the fingers of Captain Cooks bad hand the number of times I've needed to drive into the Congestion Charge zone. Why do it to yourself?

How about contractors like myself? There's no way I can get into London with all my kit on public transport. As it stands, with my Euro 5 car, I have to pay £24.00 to leave London after a job. I say leave, as I deliberately go in before 7.00am to avoid the traffic so I'm exempt, but as I'm finshed usually by mid morning, it costs me £24.00 to get out when the traffic is light.

This cost is obviously passed on to my client, and their client & so on, until ultimately, the general public of London. The only way out of this is for me to get a new modern diesel or petrol car. Who know how many countless contractors enter or leave London every day like this. Way to save the environment!

[GG.]

Ah well, you know, at least all vehicles used for a trade are affected likewise. What's that you say? Black Cabs are exempt

[Mito Man]

That’s the thing with London, the taxes and charges just get passed down to the next fucker and in the end it’s the poor bastard at the bottom of the wage pile who it hurts the most and will forever be slaving away to afford the rent in their 30 square metre hole.

[Gwaredd]

It would make sense to have a special dispensation system in place for the trade. Surely the end goal is to stop people driving to work when they could hop on the tube wherever practical, as at the moment, the worse offenders are the empty buses.

[RobYob]

Mate at work who lives in London is pissed his '06 520d is going to get pinged. I helped by pointing out my shedtastic '01 530i is exempt as is our colleagues RX8!!

We then spent a lot of time finding the most appropriate green approved ULEZ friendly replacement for an E60 520d and came up with either an S65 AMG or M6 V10...