The War On Diesel Is Getting Serious With £20 Daily Penalties For Driving Into Cities
Drivers of diesel cars could be slapped with daily ‘toxin taxes’ in dozens of UK cities if leaked Government plans go ahead.
The Times writes that as many as 35 of the British towns and cities worst affected by pollution will be able to introduce charges of up to £20 per day, with the ‘nine or 10’ worst areas able to completely ban diesel vehicles at certain times of day.
The newspaper estimates that the number of affected cars alone could run to 10 million, and that’s before considering vans, lorries and buses.
Apparently, the plans could exclude diesel cars in some cities and focus mainly on commercial vehicles, but more detail will be revealed when the Environment Secretary, Andrea Leadsom, makes the announcement next week.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan is this week going to announce an unprecedented widening of the London congestion charge net. It would apply a £12.50 charge to ‘the most polluting vehicles’ everywhere inside the North Circular and South Circular roads, on top of the additional £10 ‘T-Charge’ that will be charged to drivers of pre-2006 diesels that enter central London at peak times.
That means that, say, a 2004 Ford Focus diesel would cost at least £20 a day to drive into central London, or potentially at least £32.50 a day if the mayor decides to include older diesel cars in the wider anti-pollution initiative. That would be pretty crippling, and drivers would be forced to take a huge hit on the resale value of their cars in order to swap to something newer or not diesel-powered.
Basically, if you drive an old, polluting diesel and don’t have the money to replace it, be somewhere other than London.
The bad news for diesel drivers continues, with extra taxes on new diesel cars set to be announced in the Autumn budget. Don’t rule out diesel fuel duty increases, either.
Via: The Times (basic subscription required)
Comments
Imma put a 6bt cummins in a charger and tune it to add about 75hp and then drive around downtown london.
I’d say petrol/diesel vehicles should be banned from crowded cities all together. It slowly kills us. I don’t care about climate change, I care about the air I breathe. EVs or Hydros are the solutions on this. We could drive our petrol V8s in the weekends on road trips.
I know younger car guys are freaking out because they know they won’t have the chance to ‘’go all fast n furious up in dis motherfkr’’ but you gotta deal with it. I grew up in an age where petrol is expensive and big engines are a luxury while my dad grew up in an age where petrol wasn’t really a concern…so be it. Think about the majority and not only for you just this once (almost impossible at the age of 12, I know).
Yeap, because driving in the city just make the fuel consumption worse. I’d more happy if city car/motorcycle is EV’S or Hydros, because I missed so much that clean air in the city. (FYI : the traffic in my country is really suck, traffic jams everywhere)
Oh yes, I can’t wait to trade a perfectly good diesel for a 0.9 liter three pot petrol engine!
That moment you realize that diesel is more efficient and has fewer harmful gases than petrol/gas.
Yes, the diesel is more efficient and yes, it emits less CO2. However, NOx and Particulate Matter (soot) is the main cause for concern with diesels, as these emissions are far more harmful
The UK government at the very least should offer to buy back diesel cars and replace the cars/compensate the pre-ban value of the car to the owners.
Isn’t this stupid since modern diesels are in the same pollution class as the petrol ones?
The government more or less encouraged British motorists to buy diesels with the lower tax rates and what not. They really should have forseen this
Does the U.K. Hate it’s citizens or something? P
very much so… i think they are hoping that every British born person will get bored of working to pay stupid taxes and leave to make room for more immigrants!!
Absolutely ridiculous. I need to tow a 3 ton trailer for my business. Name one vehicle that can tow 3-3.5ton AND handle 20+mpg that isn’t a diesel.
It’s absolutely ridiculous that vans and pickups are being penalised in this way as drivers of such vehicles really have no other option.
Not sure if you can buy them in Britain, but the Chevy Silverado 2500 does that.