Banned? If you want to be able to ride your pre-Euro 4, four-stroke in London listen up…
If you read Sticky’s ‘Quit Smoking’ piece earlier this week you’ll know that ULEZ charging comes into force in London on the 8th of April 2019 – THIS YEAR. From then, all pre-Euro 3 (2007 and earlier) bikes and scooters – except for historic vehicles, will have to pay £12.50 per day to ride in the capital. That’s 24 hours a day, seven days per week, 365 days of the year. Yes, even if you live there and need your scooter for work (aside from a residents two year sunset period).
2006 four strokes?
It’s not just smokey two-strokes like the popular Vespa PX that are affected either, even pre-2007 four strokes are subjected to the charge unless you can prove your scooter is ‘cleaner’ than they assume.
Although the ruling is to exclude pre-Euro 3 vehicles the actual NOx limit is 0.15 g/km. If you can prove your scooter can meet or exceed the limit and you’re happy to jump through a couple of hoops and obviously pay some cash whilst you’re at it then you can get an exemption certificate from TfL. It’s not free but is still cheaper than buying a new ULEZ exempt vehicle.
TFL Exemption certificate
The cheapest option is to get an exemption certificate with the help of your scooter’s manufacturer.
Bike courier, Peter Fay uses two older (2006) GTS 250s for his courier job in the city, neither of which conforms to the Ultra Low Emission Zone – ULEZ regulations. Peter has just managed to get an exemption though with the help of Piaggio UK.
Peter told us how “First you check your registration doc to see if the NOx emissions are listed. If not (as in my case) you call Piaggio UK (or your own vehicles UK distributor) and they will email a form to fill in. Then you wait to hear from them, it took three or four days. Then once they say they have the certificate of conformity you do a bank transfer for 80 euros and write to TfL sending all relevant info!” Job done.
Not the TFL approved dyno
TfL approved testing centre
Not all machines were tested by the manufacturers though, if not you can’t prove your scooter’s conformity.
There is one other option open to you though, you can use the TfL approved testing facility at Riverbank Motorcycles in London. The shop has a dyno set up to measure the exhaust gasses. The scooter is placed on the dyno, run through the test three times (it tests idling, acceleration and deceleration) and an average of the three runs determines a simple pass or fail. If your scooter passes then it can go on the TfL database for exemption from the ULEZ charge. Before submitting your scooter for test be sure that your manifold/exhaust gasket/air filter are fitted correctly and in good order. A leak in any of these areas will help to fail your scooter.
Cost?
The test costs £175 and can be booked online at: Another rip off charge
New products always in development…
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SLUK Clip bridge fitting kit for Lambretta S1 S2 & S3
£13.99
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AVAILABLE NOW!! SCOOTERBOYS – THE LOST TRIBE
Rated 5.00 out of 5 £16.95
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Vespa GTS/GTV SLUK Guard Original
Rated 4.75 out of 5 £33.00 – £35.00
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Vespa GTS/GTV SLUK Guard Ultra
£33.00 – £35.00
-
SLUK Support ‘Sprint’ | Lambretta S3/ Scomadi
Rated 5.00 out of 5 £37.00
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Scomadi TL SLUK Sports screen
Rated 5.00 out of 5 £75.00 – £80.00
-
NEW Improved Coast to Coast Lambretta screen – GP/DL type
£75.00 – £80.00
-
Vespa GTS/GTV SLUK Guard + Tail DOUBLE-PACK
Rated 5.00 out of 5 £53.00 – £58.00
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Vespa PX/LML SLUK Sports screen
Rated 5.00 out of 5 £62.00 – £66.00
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ScooterNova – issue 2 | MAGAZINE
£5.00
If you read Sticky’s ‘Quit Smoking’ piece earlier this week you’ll know that ULEZ charging comes into force in London on the 8th of April 2019 – THIS YEAR. From then, all pre-Euro 3 (2007 and earlier) bikes and scooters – except for historic vehicles, will have to pay £12.50 per day to ride in the capital. That’s 24 hours a day, seven days per week, 365 days of the year. Yes, even if you live there and need your scooter for work (aside from a residents two year sunset period).
2006 four strokes?
It’s not just smokey two-strokes like the popular Vespa PX that are affected either, even pre-2007 four strokes are subjected to the charge unless you can prove your scooter is ‘cleaner’ than they assume.
Although the ruling is to exclude pre-Euro 3 vehicles the actual NOx limit is 0.15 g/km. If you can prove your scooter can meet or exceed the limit and you’re happy to jump through a couple of hoops and obviously pay some cash whilst you’re at it then you can get an exemption certificate from TfL. It’s not free but is still cheaper than buying a new ULEZ exempt vehicle.
TFL Exemption certificate
The cheapest option is to get an exemption certificate with the help of your scooter’s manufacturer.
Bike courier, Peter Fay uses two older (2006) GTS 250s for his courier job in the city, neither of which conforms to the Ultra Low Emission Zone – ULEZ regulations. Peter has just managed to get an exemption though with the help of Piaggio UK.
Peter told us how “First you check your registration doc to see if the NOx emissions are listed. If not (as in my case) you call Piaggio UK (or your own vehicles UK distributor) and they will email a form to fill in. Then you wait to hear from them, it took three or four days. Then once they say they have the certificate of conformity you do a bank transfer for 80 euros and write to TfL sending all relevant info!” Job done.
TfL approved testing centre
Not all machines were tested by the manufacturers though, if not you can’t prove your scooter’s conformity.
There is one other option open to you though, you can use the TfL approved testing facility at Riverbank Motorcycles in London. The shop has a dyno set up to measure the exhaust gasses. The scooter is placed on the dyno, run through the test three times (it tests idling, acceleration and deceleration) and an average of the three runs determines a simple pass or fail. If your scooter passes then it can go on the TfL database for exemption from the ULEZ charge. Before submitting your scooter for test be sure that your manifold/exhaust gasket/air filter are fitted correctly and in good order. A leak in any of these areas will help to fail your scooter.
Cost?
The test costs £175 and can be booked online at: Another rip off charge
New products always in development…
