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Cyclists and pedestrians can breathe a sigh of relief -- the cost of driving a heavily polluting car in London is set to go sky high. From 27 October the dirtiest cars will be charged up to £25 a day to drive in the city, under new plans from the Mayor of London.
Cars will be rated from A to G, with A being the least polluting and G being the worst. Bands A and B will be exempt from the charge altogether, while C,D and E will remain at the current £8 charge. G-rated cars will charged the max -- 25 big ones.
"Nobody needs to damage the environment by driving a gas guzzling Chelsea Tractor in central London. The CO2 emissions from the most high powered 4x4s and sports cars can be up to four times as great of those of the least polluting cars," says Mayor Ken Livingstone.
"The CO2 charge will encourage people to switch to cleaner vehicles or public transport and ensure that those who choose to carry on driving the most polluting vehicles help pay for the environmental damage they cause."
Right now, fewer than one in five cars driven in London is band G, and only a paltry two per cent are clean enough to fall into the exempt bands A and B. These lucky ones include electric vehicles like the G-Wiz and smaller traditional petrol cars like the Smart for two.
The original congestion charge that came into effect in 2003 was environmentally controversial because it didn't differentiate between polluting and non-polluting cars -- it was more concerned with reducing traffic, not fumes.
There were exemptions for hybrid cars, but a huge, inefficient 4x4 hybrid could belch out carbon dioxide all day for free, while a small, relatively efficient Smart car had to pay if it was in the zone. In short, it wasn't very fair.
The new scheme will help sort this out, and will encourage people to drive cleaner cars in the city, not cars that are technically exempt. In our ideal world everyone would cycle to work or take public transport, but at least the charge is a step in the right direction.
"Road traffic is one of the biggest contributors to climate change. Measures that get people to choose greener cars, as well as to drive less, are urgently needed," says Friends of the Earth director, Tony Jupiter.
The move is a key part of Livingstone's ambitious Climate Change Action Plan, which aims to reduce London's CO2 emissions 60 per cent by 2025.
13 February 2008 10:53am
The only problem here is that, come October, we may well have Boris Johnson for mayor, and he will scrap this. People shouldn't misunderestimate Bazza and his backers in the right-wing press. And lest anyone think he's not that bad, consider his enthusiasm for an environmentally ruinous 'Heathrow on Sea' pipedream (the very one that got 150,000 planning objection letters when last mooted by New Labour). Boris Johnson has also pledged to 'reform' the congestion charge - for which read scrap the extension. So, yes, this is progress (on the same day as scientists warned of murderous heatwaves and malaria returning to Britain); but Londoners be warned, it could all be wiped out by the Tory Blond Bombshell.
13 February 2008 10:56am
I meant, of course, 'underestimate'. But the Bushism seems kind of appropriate.
13 February 2008 01:24pm
Glad to see this is officially going ahead after being talked about last year. The vast majority of the cars that will get hit with the £25 charge cost £50K or more in the first place, so they can certainly afford it.
Mayoral elections.... yep, what can I say? Get out and vote on May 1st!
18 February 2008 09:00am
I wish these measures were in Leeds. Too often I see huge 4x4s, with only one person in the car, belching out fumes unecessarily. It makes me mad with rage but I can do nothing. Keep on going London.
21 February 2008 01:57pm
I'd be happier about Ken's green credentials if he stopped TFL installing all those power-hungry LCD advetising screens on the tube
04 April 2008 12:13am
This is crucial - Boris Johnson, if he wins, will scrap the 4X4 charge, the Low Emission Zone, the western extention of the Congestion Charge, and will reduce both the size and scope of the central C-Charge. Anyone with an ounce of consideration for the environment, or for the health of people living in London, please DON'T vote Boris - and better still, vote Ken so he can get some of these new measures in.
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