Ulez Expansion Scheme Begins in Chaos
Sadiq Khan’s controversial expansion of the hated Ultra Low Emissions Zone, whereby drivers of older cars in outer London are being charged £12.50 a day, is in meltdown. Cameras have been vandalised by ‘blade runners’, TfL’s number plate checker website has crashed and councils outside London are refusing to put up signage for the scheme. The Mail has more.
This morning the embattled mayor insisted the expansion of the scheme was not “anti-car or anti-motorist”, but Tories branded the policy a “money-raising exercise” with Transport Secretary Mark Harper saying he would have blocked it if he had the power.
The implementation has not been smooth sailing either, with Transport for London’s (TfL) number plate checker website – which allows motorists to see if their vehicle will be charged – slowing to a crawl and holding people in an online queue due to the volume of traffic.
Meanwhile, councils bordering London have refused to put up the road signs warning drivers they are about to enter the Ulez. Of the seven local authorities that border the capital, only Slough has reached an agreement with TfL – councils in Kent, Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex, Surrey and Thurrock have not done so yet.
The Ulez hits petrol vehicles introduced earlier than 2005 that are not compliant with Euro 4 emissions regulations.
Meanwhile, diesel cars and vans are only exempt if their engine complies with more recent Euro 6 rules, which were introduced in September 2015.
This will snare popular vans registered before the cut-off date including Ford Transit Custom 310s.
Worth reading in full.
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Old cars would be eventually replaced by new ones without having to force people into it.
This is a horrific abuse of power to establish a system of control over the population under the guise of environmentalism.
It’s a scandal.
Meanwhile the uber-rich with their supercars can emit as much as the like whilst buying ‘indulgences’.
According to Khan (whose own gas guzzling taxpayer funded RR and security detail are exempt),its ok to kill kids with polluted air as long as the wealthy cough up £12.50 per day.
Precisely——-What is the urgency? People bought cars with hard earned cash then these eco socialist twerps come along and criminalise that vehicle for political purposes masquerading as concern for lungs. Why is it that we in this country always have to have the most draconian climate and environmental laws? We always seem to have to save the planet harder and faster than all others. We know eg that NET ZERO will have little to no effect on global climate, so why do it? The answer is ofcourse that it isn’t and never was about the planet. We just have a squirming parasite class of globalist politicians these days pandering to every one world government agenda, no matter the cost to the people who vote for them.
That is a very good point. It’s unlikely we would have to wait very long for petrol vehicles that are already 18+ years old to become unserviceable and have to be replaced anyway. With or without ULEZ, air quality would improve even further around London (already being one of the cleanest cities in the world!) So for this reason the whole thing can only be a big money spinner / population control stunt. Note the wording used for cars that are eligible for not being charged: They are “compliant”
Yes, the environment was long ago hijacked for political purposes. eg. Way back in ’89 when the Berlin Wall came down many of the commies seeking new ways to still be commies moved towards environmental concerns and hijacked genuine ones for their own socialist agenda’s. We see that in the way the climate issue has developed and where it emanated from. Sustainable Development is a political agenda that requires a climate emergency as its excuse. ——–There is no evidence for a climate crisis though and that is why all dissent has to be silenced. Is this what science has become? A Dictatorship where government decide what is true and anyone who questions any of that “truth” is worse than deniers of the holocaust. PATHETIC.
I bought a new BMW diesel 3-series in 2017 which was still Euro 5. It wasn’t until either 2018 or 2019 that the range was updated with new engines that where Euro 6, so as far as diesel is concerned the ULEZ could affect cars and vans as little as 4 years old.
I am totally bewildered as to how the systems are in place for a minority to impose tyranny on drivers under the excuse of climate change/pollution. I don’t live in the London area but I can see that this has nothing to do with pollution because:-
1) the London underground air quality is much worse than above ground. No talk of closing that system down.
2) the air is much cleaner than it has been with the London smog and leaded fuel and there was no mention of such measures then.
3) when the indoor smoking ban was introduced, there wasn’t the option of continuing to smoke if you paid a fine. It was about improving health and avoid passive smoking – not about increasing income..
A great deal appears to have been spent on enforcement cameras etc out of taxpayers money for the benefit of who?
I fully support the Together group in getting the ULEZ scheme scrapped. I find myself also supporting the Blade Runners on the basis that if the Mayor does not listen to the people of London, what other options are there?
Even if a majority of Londoners wanted to put restrictions on older cars they shouldn’t be allowed to.
This is where so called democracy fails. There has to be limits to what can be agreed by majority concensus.
It shouldn’t be possible for a majority to deprive a minority of something or take it away from them just because they want to.
That’s what is know as the tyranny of the majority.
I agree Stewart. Good point made. The old one about the 2 foxes and the chicken voting for what is for lunch.
Also the polution increase due to lowering speed limits to 20mph is far in excess of the polution decrease due to charging us money on the pretence of reducing pollution.
Further, in the scheme of things what I’ll say next a smaller inconvenience than many will encounter, but it is a good illustration of the kind of everyday damage this scheme does. My best mate now can’t visit me. He would frequently come round but has a van which “violates” the ULEZ. He has four kids, so meeting at his place is not a good option for when we are having a lads night together.
I now can’t see my mate without going out to an (equally expensive) pub somewhere. So our beer, pizza and video game evenings are now a thing of the past (yes we are both in our 50’s but we are the first real video game generation).
This is a very real imposition on the simple things we all want from life and I’m really quire upset about it.
The reduction to 20 mph is because EVs are so much heavier than ICE cars.
And ICE car travelling at over 30 mph, is more likely to kill someone if it hits them for every mile it is travelling over that limit.
An EV will do it for every mile it is travelling at over 20 mph.
“Secretary Mark Harper saying he would have blocked it if he had the power.” If he had the testicular fortitude more likely.
Question is, do the general people who see this as wrong have the testicular fortitude to just not pay the fines?
THAT is the question. I couldn’t give a damn about some politician’s balls or lack thereof.
Blade Runners have balls.
I won’t be paying and I won’t be paying any future motoring or parking fines anywhere, they broke it, they pushed too far.
https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/the-transport-secretary-could-halt-the-ulez-expansion-why-doesnt-he/
This article makes it perfectly clear why and how Mark Harper could stop ULEZ.
Mark Harper is a liar.
There’s a surprise
Khan we know is a man on the make and couldn’t give a tinkers cuss for people, but the Tories are so transparent, they being in power, being the democratically elected party to run the country on behalf of the people, they could stop this. but they choose not to, because they can make political capital from it. They want to use this in the next election campaign, meanwhile they are happy to let businesses and people suffer, as long as they can use the suffering in their own politically motivated games.
This has nothing to do with politics Hester and everything to do with control of the population.
ULEZ and climate change or global boiling or whatever silly name they come up with are two cheeks of the same arse.
Politics are finished in this country. We are now run by some subsidiary of the Davos Deviants.
Our salvation will not arrive via the ballot box.
“and everything to do with control of the population.”
Isn’t that what politics is – controlling people?
I don’t know much about London mayoral politics but who would vote for such a person? He just seems loathsome on every level and so a vote for him is surely some sort of act of spite or vandalism. What does he have to offer?
Labour and brown
Cunning plan of Slough to reduce traffic congestion locally by complying with Khunt’s tax-grab. People will divert on other approach roads to the M25/London, outside Slough Borough Council, to avoid ULEZ road-signs and therefore have justification for ignoring any fine or challenging it in the Courts.
Iain Duncan Smith came out yesterday to say that he SUPPORTS the Blade Runners. This doubtless raised a few eyebrows. It was a significant step beyond other public figures, including Farage, who understandably are emphatic in saying they would never support criminal activity (accompanied by the odd nudge & wink). So it looked as though IDS had made a rather rash statement, with possibly the impending charge of incitement to commit crime. But he is a seasoned politician, not known for rash statements. I think I know what’s going on, and it’s sensational.
I will assume that his reply to his accusers would be that a law cannot be founded on a lie, and Khan appears to have lied (Julia Hartley-Brewer has already called him a liar and a coward on broadcast TV). Now, follow the thread. If a law cannot be founded on a lie, it surely follows that any attempts to impose such a law constitute the criminal act of extortion. Ergo, the Blade Runners, or indeed any other law-abiding citizen, would have a RIGHT, nay a DUTY, to remove or disable the cameras.
Folks resorting to resistance when ignored & trodden on by Politicians. These folks voted for politicians to Serve them. But ULEZ is not serving the people when the public doesn’t want it & they DO NOT know better.