[Kizzy]

:cheer1:

Great news

Plans to cut the huge death toll from toxic air will be published as early as Friday, after the Government gave up the fight to suppress them.

Ministers threw in the towel after losing a court battle to keep the proposals under wraps during the election campaign, claiming they would breach “purdah” rules.

The decision not to appeal threatens to force the Conservatives to put forward unpopular moves to target motorists before polling day – something the party was desperate to avoid.

Many of the estimated 40,000 premature deaths every year in Britain from toxic air are caused by illegal levels of nitrogen dioxide, largely blamed on emissions from diesel cars.

The new air quality plan – which Environment Secretary Andrea Leadsom has insisted is “ready to go” – is expected to force drivers of older diesel cars to pay a fee to enter city centres.

Such a crackdown is already planned in London from 2020, but other big cities are now likely to be forced to follow suit.

Moreover, the new charges will be based on actual emissions, rather than laboratory tests, to reflect “new evidence” following the Volkswagen scandal.

Expect your big gas guzzling diesel monstrosity banned from all major cities

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk...-a7713201.html

[Cherie]

It's not really a cheering matter to motorists who were bribed into buying them as the government told them they were environmentally friendly

When I bought my diesel-powered Citroen C5 estate six years ago, the last thing on my mind was that I would end up being treated as an environmental vandal by a government minister.
The rates for road tax seemed to be encouraging me to buy a diesel car. With lower carbon emissions, my new car fell into a much lower taxation band than my old petrol- powered Peugeot 406.
It is quite a shock, then, to hear Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin warning motorists like me that we face a hike in taxes designed to punish us for doing what we thought was the right thing and buying a diesel car.
Mr McLoughlin now says incentives introduced by Gordon Brown in 2001, which led to the number of diesel cars on Britain’s roads more than doubling from 3.45 million to 8.1 million, were utterly misguided.
And he says diesel car owners will have to pay an extra tax in future to make amends.
His argument is based on the fact that, although diesels emit less carbon mile for mile than petrol cars, they emit dangerously high levels of particulates — tiny soot particles — and nitrogen oxides (NOx).
According to an estimate by Frank Kelly, professor of environmental health at King’s College London, diesel engines could be responsible for a quarter of the 29,000 premature deaths in Britain that are attributed to air pollution.
Chancellor Gordon Brown overlooked the problem diesels have with particulates and nitrogen oxides because, like many modern-day policymakers, he was obsessed with carbon emissions.
By encouraging drivers to switch to diesel engines using tax incentives, he thought he could help achieve the targets the Blair government had pledged on CO2 reductions at the 1997 Kyoto climate-change summit.
I can accept that Gordon Brown might have been misguided in his obsession with reducing CO2 by encouraging us all to buy diesel engines — an error which, incidentally, the coalition subsequently did nothing to correct.

[arista]

Yes Toxic air
bad for children.
And others as well.


Deadly Diesel.

[jaxie]

Originally Posted by Cherie

It's not really a cheering matter to motorists who were bribed into buying them as the government told them they were environmentally friendly

When I bought my diesel-powered Citroen C5 estate six years ago, the last thing on my mind was that I would end up being treated as an environmental vandal by a government minister.
The rates for road tax seemed to be encouraging me to buy a diesel car. With lower carbon emissions, my new car fell into a much lower taxation band than my old petrol- powered Peugeot 406.
It is quite a shock, then, to hear Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin warning motorists like me that we face a hike in taxes designed to punish us for doing what we thought was the right thing and buying a diesel car.
Mr McLoughlin now says incentives introduced by Gordon Brown in 2001, which led to the number of diesel cars on Britain’s roads more than doubling from 3.45 million to 8.1 million, were utterly misguided.
And he says diesel car owners will have to pay an extra tax in future to make amends.
His argument is based on the fact that, although diesels emit less carbon mile for mile than petrol cars, they emit dangerously high levels of particulates — tiny soot particles — and nitrogen oxides (NOx).
According to an estimate by Frank Kelly, professor of environmental health at King’s College London, diesel engines could be responsible for a quarter of the 29,000 premature deaths in Britain that are attributed to air pollution.
Chancellor Gordon Brown overlooked the problem diesels have with particulates and nitrogen oxides because, like many modern-day policymakers, he was obsessed with carbon emissions.
By encouraging drivers to switch to diesel engines using tax incentives, he thought he could help achieve the targets the Blair government had pledged on CO2 reductions at the 1997 Kyoto climate-change summit.
I can accept that Gordon Brown might have been misguided in his obsession with reducing CO2 by encouraging us all to buy diesel engines — an error which, incidentally, the coalition subsequently did nothing to correct.

I too was sold a diesel a few years ago as being a more 'environmentally friendly car'. How times change! Don't have that one anymore though as Mr Jaxie killed it on one of the rare occasions he was allowed to drive my car!

[Cherie]

Originally Posted by jaxie

I too was sold a diesel a few years ago as being a more 'environmentally friendly car'. How times change! Don't have that one anymore though as Mr Jaxie killed it on one of the rare occasions he was allowed to drive my car!

Naughty Mr Jaxie Yes petrol engines were the devil not that many years ago, what to believe eh?

[Northern Monkey]

Hate diesels.Never liked the tractor noise the engine makes.Glad I was never bothered enough about the environment to fall for Browns bs.
Although i'm not sure my car will be that much better on emissions tbh.It's quite old with a large-ish turbo engine.Atleast it's not diesel though.

[Samm]

[user104658]

But we love our diesel Golf . Never had a hint of engine trouble, not even once. He's a trooper.

Though I would imagine we'll have a new car anyway by the time this comes into force. Still... #Justice4Diesel

[smudgie]

Ah well, a good excuse for us not to go near a city then

[Livia]

The world runs on diesel. Every developing nation is chock full of diesels... lorries, tracotors, buses, generators.... taking diesel cars out of the price range of motorists in this country is going to do bugger all for emissions worldwide. All it will do is make us feel a little more self-righteous that we're doing something and others are doing nothing, despite our little bit of effort not having much of an effect at all. Bring India and China's emissions down, then let's talk about our diesels.