It might not be a very Merry Christmas for electric vehicle owners living in London by the time the festivities roll around next year.
That’s because from 25 December 2025 EVs will have to pay the full amount to drive in the capital’s Congestion Charge Zone, Transport for London has confirmed this week.
Owners of zero-emission models currently benefit from only having to pay £10 for an annual exemption from the charging zone, but TfL has confirmed they will be stung with the standard rate – a £15 daily charge – from the end of next year.
Oh dear, how sad, never mind.
It does expose the whole affair as a cynical money making scam though doesn’t it? Despite air quality everywhere, including urban areas, having been improving for decades, air quality has been declared to be a problem anyway. Charging cars that don’t produce any exhaust gasses, even for one day, is fraudulent if you are claiming that lowering emissions is the reason.
More particulate pollution is emitted from tyre wear, the road surface and brakes than from the exhaust of ICE cars.
Exhaust emissions from UK vehicles have fallen by 90% since 1996, according to the government data, owing to stricter standards being enforced. As a result, the particles from tyres, brakes and roads have become the main cause of pollution from traffic, presenting a new frontier in efforts to reduce levels of dirty air.
Small particles separate from tyres as cars travel, become airborne and can be inhaled deep into the lungs. Air pollution causes 26,000 to 38,000 early deaths a year in England and particle pollution has been linked to a wide range of diseases. Larger particles of tyre wear are washed or blown into rivers and seas and are a significant component of the plastic pollution that has contaminated both people’s bodies and the planet, from the summit of Mount Everest to the deepest oceans.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/feb/23/health-impact-tyre-particles-increasing-concern-air-pollution
‘Expose’? Who on earth ever thought it was anything else?
I was under the impression that the whole point of congestion charges were to stop diesel and petrol cars. Will electric cars have to start paying full car tax as well?
Yes. That was always going to be on the cards once they forced us out of our petrol and diesel vehicles.
Yes, of course!
A congestion charge on milk floats is perfectly reasonable given the congestion unsellable tens of thousands of them are causing at ports.
Off-topic – here’s a good piece from the Telegraph about Sir Kneelalot’s worst mistake, which in a sane world would disqualify him from becoming prime monster:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/07/02/starmer-worst-mistake-make-him-unsuitable-to-prime-minister/
Of course, we know that we are not in a sane world because, as the article reminds us, the majority of the idiot public wanted even more severe coronavirus restrictions. And that same idiot public is shortly going to put Sir Kneelalot in 10 Downing Street. What’s that saying? ‘Be careful what you wish for – you may get it.’
What was this grave mistake? The linked article is behind a paywall.
Stony, it works if you let it load, then click the dismiss button at the bottom of the box.
And yes, the Labour party were scrabbling around, trying to discredit the Tories. It could all happen again after Thursday…
What dismiss button ? – not on my screen !
Covid. If you ever doubted that it’s about all of them vs. us, surely the peculiar omertá that’s been put on the utter catastrophe of the lockdowns, the single defining governmental failure of the last five years, should be reason enough. They all supported it. Sir Kneels-a-Lot wanted more.
And now he’s going to be handed the keys to No. 10 with a massive majority. God help us all.
Perhaps not a *massive* majority, Sam. As Mr L and I (and maybe one or two other people) have mentioned here in recent weeks, there could be a small Labour majority. Indeed, I have my doubts that Labour will able to surpass BoJo’s 80 seat majority of 2019. We’ll see tomorrow.
Anyway, part of me hopes that another virus comes along in the next few years, because then we would see how illiberal Labour would be. They would lock us down harder and for longer than the Tories ever did.
Even with the collapse of the Tory vote, that swing just seems unrealistic. I suspect – and hope – that the pollsters will have a full English splashed over their faces tomorrow.
Disable JavaScript. Then reload the page.
Should be visible then.
You WILL get it! I’ve just been down to cast a vote for ReformUK, and for the first time there were others in the polling office – one man ahead of me and a couple came in as I left. Hoping the good weather means a good turnout.
Easy answer: don’t go to or do any business with these extra tax zones. Electric car buyers should have seen this coming – done; you certainly have been.
If Labour are elected (If? What am I thinking?), it won’t be because of their policies, but rather because of the Tory policies. Pte Frazer really could see into the future.
Absolutely spot on!
If you don’t like Tory policies why would you vote Labour who are offering pretty much the same shit but turned up to eleven?
Let’s hope for a big swing to ReformUK, then.
I cannot raise any sympathy for the pro-EV lobby who are now going to be hit just as hard as ICE vehicle drivers. My reaction to their betrayed outrage is simply: https://youtu.be/z4uivPpzCGo?si=-qLOOpkZ_cDArc1Q