Smog Charge - London

[Win2Win]

How to wipe out small business in one day :headbange

Mr Livingstone I presume!!! :splapme

Here's an idea. Ban ALL traffic, and we'll use horse & cart.

[presto]

when i heard it i thaught what a joke. mainly because of the fact that busses and coaches would be fined. busses keep hundereds of cars off the road which has to be great for the enviroment and in reducing smog - so why target them.

another similar rant about the news today is the 'ban cars with poor fuel consumption'. - another :censored: joke, and i am sure keith will agree here, in hilly remote areas 4x4's are not so much of a luxery but more of a necesity. instead of banning them - do something with the enormous taxes levied on such cars to help with the enviroment.

more rant's while i am at it.

patio heaters, and trying to ban them - :censored: off! first pubs are forced to shove smokers outside, now they want to take away any comfort of a heated area.
another rant about this - violent crime figures were revealed in preston this week and in the town centre assaults rose by 300% or so over the same period of last year, police blaming it on forcing smokers onto the street, clogging up the pavements etc...

[mathare]

There is some unnecessary ranting about this low emission zone though. Yes, the fine is severe at £200 a day and the zone is large (basically everything inside the M25) but all vehicles manufactured since 2001 are exempt, and those affected can fit abatement equipment to reduce their emissions and thus become compliant. It's not like the congestion charging zone whereby you can drive round it (due to its size really) as once your vehicle meets the standards and is in the TFL database then your good to go and won't have to pay the charge ever.

If you really want a rant, rant about the fact that it requires an accurately maintained database and the way that foreign transport is handled by this system...

[Win2Win]

another joke, and i am sure keith will agree here, in hilly remote areas 4x4's are not so much of a luxery but more of a necesity. instead of banning them

I agree in a way, but my 4x4 does 37.5mpg, and the one I'll get later in the year does 42mpg, and yet is bigger. I did like the Pathfinder, but at 30mpg they can sod off :)

Normal cars fall apart round these parts, they can't handle the Welsh single track roads, especially when things like tar don't exist, and you need to run over the odd sheep!!!!

...but Mat.....All that fixing lark costs money, most small business that use older vehicles as they can't afford new ones like the big companies, who replace every 3 years, many are already living on the edge, and this will be the last straw for some.

And while I'm here......STOP PAINTING 1968 BUSES YELLOW.....they are no safer for our children just because they change colour!!! The US school buses are built like tanks.