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ULEZ and congestion charges


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Today Birmingham has introduced a new emission zone. I checked and my 4A is exempt (also for Bath). In the past I have checked the ULEZ and congestion charges in London and previously the TR was exempt there but apparently no longer. In London area emission zone rules for classic cars are exempt.

Here is exemption info for London but my reg says I'm not exempt when I check it on TFL website.

Historic vehicles

You can apply to stop paying vehicle tax if your vehicle was built more than 40 years ago. This date moves forward on a 40-year rolling system. For example, when the ULEZ launched in April 2019, vehicles built before 1979 were eligible to apply for historic vehicle tax class.

All vehicles that have a historic vehicle tax class will be exempt from the ULEZ. This tax class excludes any vehicle used commercially (for example, coffee vans or street food vans).

In line with the existing LEZ discount all vehicles constructed before 1 January 1973 will be exempt from the ULEZ, regardless of commercial use or otherwise.

If your vehicle meets the above criteria but is registered outside the UK, you are also exempt, but will need to register with us before travelling in the zone.

 

However I then go onto TFL website to register the TR as exempt because of its historic status and it says it is already registered and exempt from LEZ ULEZ emission zone charges. Seems like part of TFL site not communicating with another part.

confused

Keith

Edited by keith1948
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I’ve just checked my car (1969 TR6) on the TFL website and found the same thing. It clearly states vehicles in the historic vehicle tax class are exempt but when I check the registration it says payment required. Something for the club officials to take up with  TFL before someone gets an unexpected fine?

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Somewhere in the small print on the checker it explains that (for London only) it only checks the emissions standard of the vehicle not the VED status.  To check whether you need to pay the charge go to the 'Pay to Drive in London' page and continue as if paying, it will then show the vehicle as exempt and no charge payable.

Mike

 

 

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What next a slot on your neck for breathing! 

Out of interest the people of Birmingham voted against the ULEZ but the Labour council has imposed it, for me that equals no pay and I'd encourage everyone affected not to pay.

Andy

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  • 2 months later...

Hi All

Portsmouth is introducing a ULEZ in the town centre area in October, at the moment it is only going to be for Commercial vehicles including taxi's, £10 per day charge only Euro 6 vehicles are exempt probably won't be long before all vehicles included, so will have to check the 4 if this happens. A friend of mine is far from happy as he runs 3 taxi's one is compliant one can be converted at a cost of about £4000, and the 3rd cab will have to come off the road in January when the time period for getting vehicles converted or buy another runs out as it cannot be converted.

Another brilliant idea we have at the moment is electric scooter hire which is supposed to get people out of their cars and reduce traffic, all we see are teenagers sometimes 2 up zooming about on the road causing chaos jumping red lights and slowing down traffic usually of course on their phones. Me old and opinionated not at all...

Phil

 

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Hi all


I got a fantastically detailed letter from TfL advising me of all sorts including that 5VC was liable to ULEZ charges - it’s a 1962 car obviously, so that’s nonsense.

Quite why I got this letter given that the car is still on a SORN and hasn’t been through London since 1963 I don’t know. It’s also been registered in the uk for a number of years !

I would have thought that basic arithmetic might indicate that the car is over 40 years old and therefore exempt ? What’s going on ?

regards

Tony

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1 hour ago, TR4Tony VC said:

Hi all


I got a fantastically detailed letter from TfL advising me of all sorts including that 5VC was liable to ULEZ charges - it’s a 1962 car obviously, so that’s nonsense.

Quite why I got this letter given that the car is still on a SORN and hasn’t been through London since 1963 I don’t know. It’s also been registered in the uk for a number of years !

I would have thought that basic arithmetic might indicate that the car is over 40 years old and therefore exempt ? What’s going on ?

regards

Tony

You are exempt Tony if you are driving 5 VC in the ULEZ both not exempt in the congestion zone.

Peter W

 

CEB513F5-9800-4898-A6BE-333A2612C500.jpeg

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Another one jumping on the band wagon.

If and when we are all electric I'm sure they will come up with another charge to boost the coffers. Personally if they charge I will stay away from the town centres and go else where while the town centres empty and the councils come to their senses.

Andy 

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18 minutes ago, PodOne said:

and the councils come to their senses.

Andy 

Andy, do you believe in the tooth fairy as well? :D

How's this for stupidity: a section of the M6 near my house is to have a 60mph speed limit imposed "to improve local air quality". The reduced speed section will be 3.5 miles long!

Pete

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Hi Pete

True of course they exsist especially around voting season!

The M1 Sheffield Meadow Hell junction has the the same stupid speed limits imposed from time to time, result congestion and more pollution genius at work.

Andy

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12 hours ago, PodOne said:

Hi Pete

True of course they exsist especially around voting season!

The M1 Sheffield Meadow Hell junction has the the same stupid speed limits imposed from time to time, result congestion and more pollution genius at work.

Andy

:D

You'd think local councils would know more about air movement given the amount generated in their meetings.

Thankfully I haven't been to Meadowhell or it's Brum counterpart Merry Hell for years!

Pete

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14 hours ago, stillp said:

Andy, do you believe in the tooth fairy as well? :D

How's this for stupidity: a section of the M6 near my house is to have a 60mph speed limit imposed "to improve local air quality". The reduced speed section will be 3.5 miles long!

Pete

Noticed the same on a section of the M4 in Wales recently...

Miles

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Ok explain this.

my Citroen euro box is a low CO2 emission car and I pay £30.00 per year road tax.  The Mayor of London says it is not a low emission vehicle and requires ULEZ payment for it.    I can see a lot of cars in outer London sporting sticky tape on their number plates come October.

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8 hours ago, BlueTR3A-5EKT said:

Ok explain this.

my Citroen euro box is a low CO2 emission car and I pay £30.00 per year road tax.  The Mayor of London says it is not a low emission vehicle and requires ULEZ payment for it.    I can see a lot of cars in outer London sporting sticky tape on their number plates come October.

Short of pedal power every thing that moves will have a fleecing ticket attached to it. Unfortunately the councils seem to be able to do what they like even when its against what the voters thought they were getting. 

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  • 1 year later...

If I had an electric car but towed a trailer with a diesel generator on it to keep the car charged not only would I avoid the worry of range anxiety but presumably I could drive in a ULEZ zone even though my electric car was in fact diesel powered. The trailer would have the same number plate as the electric car. Interesting thought?

Keith

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23 minutes ago, keith1948 said:

If I had an electric car but towed a trailer with a diesel generator on it to keep the car charged not only would I avoid the worry of range anxiety but presumably I could drive in a ULEZ zone even though my electric car was in fact diesel powered. The trailer would have the same number plate as the electric car. Interesting thought?

Keith

Better still you can run your generator on agricultural tax free diesel.   Just like all the cement mixing lorries and refrigerated trucks do in their auxiliary diesel motors.   That fuel is probably not as sulphur free as the stuff you buy at the pump so creates more soot.   Not that the mayor of London might have thought of that coz car drivers are a much softer option to steal from to fund vanity projects.

Edited by BlueTR3A-5EKT
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Saw something recently about the 60mph limits on motorways. It was supposed to be an 18 month experiment to see if it did help reduce pollution, most are still in place 2 years later and no evidence has been produced to say it lessens pollution, or indeed as most suspect has increased pollution due to the increased congestion it has caused.

I try and avoid town centres wherever possible, but fortunately the only one near me is Bradford and is applied to older commercial vehicles only at present, but planned to cover private cars eventually. Had a job in the zone recently and added the charges to my bill, as most tradesmen are doing, so ultimately the customer is paying.

What I find most confusing is that different councils are using different charging strategies, some charge commercials but not private cars (Bradford), others charge private cars but not commercials, and some charge everything that moves.

No doubt as other towns realise there is money to be made from sticking up a few signs and declaring an emission zone this plague is going to spread. Be OK if they spend the money on filling in the pot holes.

Ralph

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A widely quoted reason for imposing the ULEZs is "40000 deaths per year"  from air pollution.   This is a complete myth. No-one had died as a direct result of that air pollution alone .  It does, however, exacerbate other fatal illnesses and result in an overall shortening of life . 

The "40,000 deaths" number comes from a report by King College London which used a statistical method.  From medical surveys they  estimated  a shortening of life across the population of a number of days each.  Those lost days were then added together to arrive at an equivalent number of whole lost lives -  in effect they are saying something like  - if X million people each die three days early,  that is the same as 40,000 people dying right away. Statistical nonsense but as with all such things it has been embraced and embellished until it becomes an accepted fact. 

 

 

Edited by RobH
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It is ofcourse a fine thing to have cleaner air and less congestion but as others suspect I believe it is money that is the motivation for the great tea drinking masses that run our councils, I can give a prime example.

Greenwich which is a London borough on the South Bank of the Thames and well inside the London low emissions zone have recently put in a terminal for cruise liners, which as we all know are small floating towns that consume lots of electricity, so much so that the local grid cannot cope. So to resolve this problem the ships produce their own by running their engines! Any one know how much pollution a cruise ship engine produces? 

When this was in the planning stage there were lots of  local objections to this element of the project but it was deemed OK because it would bring in tourists and importantly their money to what is already a very wealthy area. I should  add that it is possible that the grid has been updated over the last year as my niece who lived in Greenwich moved away so my source of information has dried up, but that would be a major undertaking.

George 

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28 minutes ago, harlequin said:

Any one know how much pollution a cruise ship engine produces? 

https://www.statista.com/chart/18351/emissions-from-cruise-ships-and-cars-in-european-port-cities/

 

18351.jpg.3d0da26126ba5982873fde6d36b3170c.jpg

Edited by RobH
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The current ULEZ boundary is marked  by the north and  south circular roads.      Son & Co. live up a side road inwards from the CR, which  means if I drive there I am liable - but I've never been charged, because there ain't no sensors on the road!  No, I'm not telling where.     But when the ULEZ extends to be enclosed by the M25, I will be no longer able to dodge it.

One reason for the bad feeling from many about the ULEZ has been the policies of the enforcement agency (a private company) that London contracts to enforce it.   My paper reported this morning that the Agents have recently been allowed to access the car owner records of European countries and have been sending visitors, otherwise ignorant of what is a "ULEZ", penalty bills.   But such bills!    The featured case involved a single visit and a  fine of £3000!   (Guardian, not Sun, so more probably correct)

John

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If it's any comfort the UK is not the only country coming up with ever more money grabbing schemes, we've just had a large interior decorating job done by a lovely lady painter who many years ago came to this country from Romania, apparently, she tells us, the government there is planning to charge those people who have solar panels on their roofs (you're going to pay to have sunlight!!), ....... and you thought you were going off grid!!, ......what next, bring back window tax?  .... what happened to government for the people by the people?.

Cheers Rob

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So….

The eastern side of the M25 runs through a London borough, Havering..   Does that mean all traffic using that section of road must be compliant?  That’ll jam the western side of the orbital motorway even further as everyone chooses to avoid it.   As the prevailing wind is west to east will it blow the pollution across the entire city?   Bit of an own goal.

Edited by BlueTR3A-5EKT
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