This is a much better alternative to the extended ULEZ scheme introduced by the Mayor of London, Khan, and the idea comes from Nigel Farage. He has come up with a brilliantly simple idea which I’m surprised hasn’t been put forward before.
The purpose of ULEZ is to improve the air quality in inner and outer London i.e. within the ULEZ zone by reducing emissions from the vehicles allowed inside that zone. Some vehicles are too old and therefore they create emissions which are disallowed within ULEZ.
And it gets very complicated because petrol cars create fewer undesirable emissions in terms of climate change and impact on human health than diesel cars and therefore an older petrol car is allowed compared to a more modern diesel car which is disallowed. It all comes down to emissions and diesel cars emit more nitrogen dioxide as I understand it.
But rather than stopping vehicles at a certain point in a big circle around London it would be a lot easier if the standard MOT test in the UK was tightened up to ensure that all vehicles that went through the MOT test (those vehicles that are three years old) meet the requirements of the current extended ULEZ scheme.
This would have eliminated the £140 millions of setup costs including the construction and erection of cameras all around Greater London which are being vandalised, by the way, in large numbers.
In Nigel Farage’s words, he would recommend the following idea:
“ULEZ, we’re told, is to stop certain nitrous oxide particulate problems going into the atmosphere, but every car every three years old has to have an MOT every single year. Why not just say that there is a standard that cars have to pass, and if they pass it at MOT, it doesn’t matter if they are five years old or 25 years old?”
Nigel Farage.
