Emissions charge in London is a blunt instrument | Letters
New pollution charges for motorists in London should not be based on a vehicle’s age, argues David Lawrence, while Judith Hanna thinks the Tories are playing politics with the issue
Your emissions zone article (Coming soon: the £24 charge for driving into central London, 5 January) correctly states that most pre-2006 cars will fall foul of Transport for London’s post-2021 ultra-low emission zone (ULEZ) standard rules for driving within London’s north and south circular roads without charge. These new rules are grossly crude and inept if the aim is to reduce air pollution. Age of vehicle on its own is a very poor indicator of the pollution caused by a car.
Much more important is the mileage. We have a pre-2006 car, but travel fewer than 750 miles a year: we only use the car about once every three weeks for journeys especially requiring a car. Therefore TfL should use car mileage (easily obtained from MOT records) instead of age. A more valid decision model would also use the residence postcode of the vehicle to estimate difficulty of using public transport: we are lucky to live near an excellent transport hub, so it is easy for us to use the underground and buses as much as we do.
David Lawrence
London
Source: Guardian Transport
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