The Low Emission Zone in Glasgow is now in place, inside the M-way ring route. Diesel vehicles must be registered after Sept 2015, and petrol vehicles registered from 2006 onwards.
I mention it in case anyone wanted to come into the city centre from Strathclyde CAMC or the Loch Lomond sites for a meal or concert etc.
Unlike some English LEZs, where infringement costs £10 or so (the cost of a train ticket but more convenient) the first fine is £60, doubled for second offence & so on.
Many of the other Scottish cities follow over the next few years.
Aberdeen is getting ready to wage LEZ war on motorists too. The LEZ is officially in place, but not enforced until June next year.
It doesn't really affect us as I never take the van into the city - we either take the car or bus and the bypass stays well away from the city.
------------- Two drifters off to see the world.
I'm tired of reality, so I'm off to look for a good fantasy.
We have the same in Bristol. It includes the road from the M5 to Bristol Airport. Many don't believe a primary route like that is in a ULEZ. First they know about it if they missed the sign is a £120 fine through the post.
We can't even log on to check if we have entered the zone after a visit.
Still there should be a massive Council Tax drop next year with all that money.
All these ULEZ are just a money-grab in my opinion. Firstly, if they were really bothered about emissions it would be an outright ban, not "you can bring a polluting car in if you give us some money", and secondly will it really make any difference except possibly right in the congested city-centres?
I am inclined to think that each generation of cars has brought successively lower differences from the previous ones. Is a 2023 vehicle significantly less polluting than a 2013 one? Is a 2013 car significantly less polluting than a 2003 one? In the latter case possibly, but in the former, I doubt it.
It should be based on the vehicle emissions, in my view, not the vehicle’s age. A new car with high emissions is allowed but an older one with low emissions is not. Not logical.
Anyway, we’ve had to buy a newer car, and get rid of a solid reliable one, for this reason alone.
Next - Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Dundee.
I haven't actually researched it but I doubt whether the emissions of my 15 year old car are all that much higher than a new car's. I do know that they are massively lower than a 1960s diesel vehicle though, yet such a vehicle would be exempt. The whole thing is crazy!
I have no plans whatsoever of changing my car, or of paying any emission charges, so I simply won't drive into any cities where they have them. I probably wouldn't anyway as there are too many other problems such as parking. If I go to my nearest city, London, I always go by train. No problems that way, especially as I'm a retired train driver and travel free.
It seems daft that a new Range Rover or Bentley with a huge engine is exempt but smaller probably clean cars are not.
By a 40 year old Range Rover or similar no ULEZ fees no VED or MOT! They aren't cheap though. If I still had my 73 Land Rover it would be ok. It smoked well and drank petrol so not very green!
Not really another way to rip off motorists of course.
Both our cars are ok so it doesn't bother us.
My nephew lives in London but just off South Circular so we can stay with him and use public transport.
If we feel the need to go to Birmingham we would probably go by train as its about 40 minutes- assuming the employees aren't on strike again.
------------- DS-There's more to life than football!!!
We're off to Ayrshire tomorrow so I had a look at the Glasgow LEZ. Finding a map was not easy,but it looks like the LEZ is a fairly small area in the city centre bounded by the M8 to the north & west, and the river to the south. The eastern boundary was less clear.
Anyway, it looks as though you can drive round the city using the M8 or M74 without coming near the LEZ.
The Aberdeen LEZ does look like a money grabbing scheme. It's a relatively small city and has a very good bypass. This means less commercial traffic in the centre. The local busses are mainly electric or hydrogen powered and the longer distance busses are mostly hybrid.
------------- Two drifters off to see the world.
I'm tired of reality, so I'm off to look for a good fantasy.
The London ULEZ is absolutely ridiculous. As from the end of August it is going all the way out to the M25, which is a truly massive area affecting probably millions of drivers. It currently goes to the north/south circular, and I doubt it even makes much difference on the outer reaches of that.
The Mayor of London says that less than 10% of cars will be affected as 90% are already compliant, but if that were true they would never recoup the cost of extending it. It would still affect an enormous number of people though. Personally I think that 10% is a gross underestimate. I think it is more like 30%, based on the number of non-compliant cars I see on the road.
Manchester's LEZ should have started last year but was put on hold as it would have affected so many businesses. It covers the whole of Greater Manchester, including our area which is 12 miles away and quite rural, also including other areas that you would describe as very rural. As our campervan was not compliant, we made the decision to change it for a compliant one. If we hadn't done that, it would have cost us £10 every time we took it off the drive, which is probably 5 times a week.
It's about 14 miles from the northern M25 to central London, and most of the northern M25 goes through open countryside, some of which extends quite a distance towards London. There must be thousands of small businesses that fall inside the extended ULEZ as well as millions of ordinary motorists, yet they still seem to be pushing ahead with it despite many protests and petitions against it. Fortunately for us we live about 7 miles further out than the M25 and we don't need to commute as we are retired. A great many others will not be so fortunate.
Quote: Originally posted by clbewi on 17/6/2023
Not quite all the way out to theM25
I agree there are some places where it doesn't go all the way out to the M25, but in the areas I know best it certainly does. Enfield for instance. The boundary extends way beyond the town itself and goes well out into open countryside. Personally I still feel that the only impact it will have extending it beyond where it is at the moment will be a financial one. Around the current boundary I would think the impact would be minimal. I can possibly understand it in the heart of central London, but I think it already goes too far out in the north.
Quote: Originally posted by Capt Lightning on 17/6/2023
We're off to Ayrshire tomorrow so I had a look at the Glasgow LEZ. Finding a map was not easy,but it looks like the LEZ is a fairly small area in the city centre bounded by the M8 to the north & west, and the river to the south. The eastern boundary was less clear.
Anyway, it looks as though you can drive round the city using the M8 or M74 without coming near the LEZ.
Keep on the M-ways, you’ll be fine. Take a slip road off on the city side, however, and you’re straight into the LEZ (except at the east end where it seems pretty fuzzy).
Quote: Originally posted by Colin21 on 17/6/2023
The London ULEZ is absolutely ridiculous. As from the end of August it is going all the way out to the M25, which is a truly massive area affecting probably millions of drivers. It currently goes to the north/south circular, and I doubt it even makes much difference on the outer reaches of that.
The Mayor of London says that less than 10% of cars will be affected as 90% are already compliant, but if that were true they would never recoup the cost of extending it. It would still affect an enormous number of people though. Personally I think that 10% is a gross underestimate. I think it is more like 30%, based on the number of non-compliant cars I see on the road.
I can stand at my front gate and see 3 perfectly good cars that are either going to scrap, or in a vain hope have a for sale sign on them (who is going to buy a car that is virtually unusable because of politics!), just because of the coming extended ULEZ. The cars I refer to do under a couple of thousand miles a year (these are my neighbours, I know them and their car usage!), is their removal from the roads really going to improve London air! Extrapolate that across the vast expanse of the ULEZ zone, and Mayor Khan's 10% figure looks like just another whopping great LIE! - he's more productive at lying than achieving anything else it seems!!!!
AFAIK, no independent research has ever shown that all of the vehicle related 'clean air' measures have ever achieved their claimed goals, ONLY when other factors like closing down of Heathrow during Covid does London's air actually improve! During the Covid 'work from home'/no unnecessary travel period, London's streets were dramatically quieter, but did the air quality improve because of only a fraction of the traffic on the roads, of course it didn't! - London's pollution comes from a multitude of sources, vehicles are a TINY percentage of that, Heathrow alone is a major problem - the prevailing wind blows it's pollution across the whole of London!
All these ULEZ schemes are just politicians playing with statistics, and usually reaping substantial income into the bargain, not a real solution. The French with their Crit'Air scheme have at least got the balls to say, if your vehicle doesn't meet the standard, then it simply doesn't enter the zone without incurring a hefty penalty fine, none of this 'buy your way around the restrictions nonsense' by paying us a cosy fee.
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Topic: Glasgow LEZ
via mobile 16/6/2023 at 8:59am
