4x4s will pay £25 per day congestion charge!

[Paulh_Boats]

Brilliant news I think.  A sliding scale of congestion charge according to CO2 output:

http://www.inthenews.co.uk/news/transport/mayor-charges-chelsea-tractors-drive-in-central-london-$1202751.htm

[snozzer]

What about those running on Biodiesel, SVO and WVO?

[Paulh_Boats]

snozzer,

Thats a good question....its almost impossible to prove a diesel is running on bio-fuel.

But it has been proved that bio-fuels are not 100% carbon neutral, so a smaller engine is always better.

[room101]

What is the charge for older cars that don't have CO2 rating...

[Paulh_Boats]

Quote from the online rags:

"The £25 charge will affect vehicles emitting more than 225 grams of CO2 per km and those registered before March 2001 with engines over 3,000cc. Most drivers will continue to pay £8.

Vehicles with the lowest emissions will be charge free"

[room101]

Thats lucky, mines 2974cc....

[frank2]

i bet a few get gas converted, they,re exempt 

[snozzer]

snozzer,

Thats a good question....its almost impossible to prove a diesel is running on bio-fuel.

But it has been proved that bio-fuels are not 100% carbon neutral, so a smaller engine is always better.

Prove I am not. 


Just shows how ill thought out this is.   If I run a car that is rated at the higher band, but I run it on WVO/SVO or Bio, then how do I deal with it.  Do I have to go to a lab and get a statement saying "car is bleow xgms"?

How about dual fuel hybrids, when on LPG its under the band, but when on gasoline it is over.  How do they charge that, how do they know what fuel it is on when it crosses the big red C?

[billi]

where is the monney going to ?  in a renewable energy fund in a biofuell plant a windmill  ore ?


would like to hear these news in connection with an idea.....

[billi]

the green party in germany a few years ago  had a concept of pricing a liter of fuel  to about 2.5 euros


unfourtanetly they dropped the idea  for getting elected..............



in the end its a sad storry   the car industry is dictating the models they produce and holding the patents for better models  , if the feel pressure they like to move.... (to put pressure on goverments)
somewhere else
its a catch 22   about who we are and what we can do   sad enough that industry is dicdating  politics  and not other way round and the average guy (like me ) is then complaining about the politicians

[guydewdney]

so the guy driving (or being driven) in his nice shiney new roller, at a quater of a million quid - is going to give a flying hoot about 25 quid? I think not.

Or - they buy a second (third) car - like a smart car - or indeed ANY car sold within the 'ring' - and its exempt (a mate has a newish discovery / defender thing bought from land rover central london)... and thats 'better' is it?

And in the mean time, hes banning all older LGV's (inc busses, ambulances, herses etc) that are older than x in his crazy LEZ scheme.

bendy bussus - that now average half the mpg of the old routemasters, and screw up roundabouts for everyone else.

I have to drive in central london occasionally for work - and most of the traffic jams I see are from the bendies.



Someone get rid of this meglomaniac idiot!

[dhaslam]

Of course you have to remember that modern industries are fuel hungry.  If energy cost rise a lot  governments won't just have an energy crisis to deal with they will also have high unemployment, reduced tax take and with their  high administration costs they will have big budget problems.   In these circumstances they are going to make changes very slowly which may make the situation much worse in the long term. 

[KenB]

List,

My mate informed me about this last night at the pub.  He drives a huge Lexus and has to commute to London most days.

His firm will pick up the tab, but £25 a day for 200 working days a year is the best part of £5K.

Where is this money going??

Is this really going to help congestion/pollution/emissions in London.   Red Ken needs to address ancient open top tour buses, bendy buses, old cabs, vans and trucks too if he wants to be fair.

It is cheaper to tax a 2.5 litre Transit van than a 1.9 litre diesel private car.  The taxation bands need a bit of reviewing

I had a rather a smug feeling -I had been driving around the country in my wifes 1994 Peugeot 106diesel  , and just completed 388.5 miles on 27.2 litres of diesel - a nice 65mpg 



Ken

[northern installer]

the money is probably to fund the increased mortgage payments on the gherkin
why do politicians on a 'green crusade' penalise those of us who use a 4x4 for its proper purpose?they should be exempt from road tax for farm use,same as tractors.Inhabitants of chelsea could be dissuaded from driving 4x4s by compulsory slurrying of the paintwork by traffic wardens 

[renewablejohn]

It does seem ironic that it is cheaper to tax and insure my 7.5 tonne mercedes truck then it is to tax and insure my land rover discovery.