Forum Topic

ULEZ extension

I am sure you all know this..The ULEZ zone is expanding on 25th October upto (but not including) the North and South Circular. To drive within it means a £12.50 charge per day if your car is not emitting low enough pollutants.  Since I have an older car I checked and according to TFL's checker I am OK. To a degree this (pleasantly) surprised me. However, it did raise a couple of questions....1) How uptodate is the ULEZ checker at the moment?2) How often does it get changed?3) Does anyone have any idea of future plans to include cars that are currently exempt? Where would I find this information as I would a) like to avoid the chargeb) I concur with the idea of reducing pollutionPlease don't tell me to walk... I do.Please don't tell me to go by bike. For health and practical reasons this is not possible. Nor is public transport always realistic.Thanks

John Hickman ● 1901d12 Comments

1) How uptodate is the ULEZ checker at the moment?The checker is looking at the Euro emission standard a vehicle has in DVLC database. So it is completely up to date.2) How often does it get changed?The standards required are:Petrol: Euro 4Diesel: Euro 6There is no plan (as far as I know) to change these standards - though who knows what might happen in the future.3) Does anyone have any idea of future plans to include cars that are currently exempt?There are no such plans but that does not mean there never will be.If your car passes the test now it should be good for a few years.

Will Watson ● 1901d

WillThanksDo you make these statements from belief that tfl and dvlc wouldn't make a mistake or that you have some "insider" knowledge?I do not mean to sound distrustful...

John Hickman ● 1901d

What sort of mistake are you thinking of?

Will Watson ● 1901d

I don't understand exactly what in Will's post is not clear - he is 100% correct - this whole matter has been 'out-in-the-open' for some time now and all that Will has stated is available from published sources.One (apparent) source of confusion may be due to the incredibly stupid media, who persist in stating that any car made from 01/01/15 onwards will be compliant - this is true, as all cars made from this date and sold in Europe must be either Euro IV (Petrol) or Euro VI (Diesel) compliant, but many, many cars made before this date are also compliant - the 'TfL checker' pulls information from the DVLA website that reveals the real story.Nobody, not even TfL, knows what will change in the future, but you can be sure that if your car is currently compliant according to the TfL checker, then it will continue to remain compliant for at least a few years - there are (currently) no standards existing beyond these, so it is impossible to know at this time just what TfL could seek to change in the future...

David Noades ● 1901d

I believe there is an exemption for cars registered over 40 years ago.  This is a rolling exemption so a car registered 39 years ago won't be exempt this year but will be exempt next year.

Michael Robinson ● 1901d

Just reading keeping a diesel car is greener than buying an electric car. Alok Sharma still drives a diesel, Allegra Stratton prefers her diesel.  Jo Rigby's (staunch anti car councillor) employer has just won a global contract with car giant Stellantis.  Interesting stuff.  A bit off topic but all car related

Maggie Dodge ● 1901d

"I don't understand exactly what in Will's post is not clear - he is 100% correct - this whole matter has been 'out-in-the-open' for some time now and all that Will has stated is available from published sources."I'm not implying that Will's post is not clear. It is. I am questioning what is deemed to be "out in the open".I have seen, for example, web sites claiming (incorrectly) that petrol engines must be Euro level 5 when Euro level 4 would appear to be the correct level,Having said this, I know of people whose (petrol engined) cars are Euro level 3 and the TFL web site gives them the "all clear".There was earlier the statement that all (petrol engined) cars prior to 2006 would have to pay. This is seemingly not the case.There is further the statement on the TFL site that says that you should always check before every journey. (Yeah, right)! This implies that the requirements might be updated from one day to the next without notice....I agree with the comment "incredibly stupid media". That is true in so many areas... The comment about 01/01/15 applies (afaik) to diesel engined cars only. As stated above, the information about petrol engined cars appears to be somewhat more equivocal. (This, Will, is the sort of mistake I was referring to.... Perhaps more incorrect/unclear information).

John Hickman ● 1901d

This is going to affect a lot of people with "classic" cars that haven't yet reached their 40th. Often they are cosseted and hardly driven so probably not massive contributors to emissions levels. Expensive to run though if it costs £12.50 every time you want to take it for a spin.

Bruce Hammal ● 1901d

There are two aspects to this:1. Globally polluting CO2 - probably (for ICE cars) best from low power diesels but not considered for ULEZ.2. Locally Polluting emissions - NO2, particulates etc best from low power petrol.Unfortunately "classic" cars (and older black cabs for that matter) - judging by the stink of their exhausts when following my bike are terrible for both so why they are given exemption status is beyond me.

Will Watson ● 1900d

I wouldn’t buy another petrol or diesel though. The original ULEZ extension introduced the principle that you pay to pollute and the ULEZ extension extends that to all of London. The direction of travel is clear - at some point the rules will be tightened so that any ICE car will attract a charge and only zero emission will be free. The classic car exemptions will go too - they’re illogical and unnecessary.

Ed Saper ● 1898d

Ed, with all you've written in your latest post, what's the the / your policy on Air Freight and getting it from you to the Airport ?Btw how much do airplanes contribute to pollution and global warming  ?

Loraine Pemberton ● 1898d

Trust if requirements are updated they would give us all plenty of warning and not that we have to find out ourselves and check on-line.

Janice Evans ● 1897d