A date has been announced for the introduction of the latest tax on motorists in our capital city. From 8th of April 2019 it will cost you £12.50 per day to ride through central London on any pre-Euro3 scooter or motorcycle.
Other cities are very likely to follow suit soon.
What is ULEZ?
When I was at school \’ULEZ\’ was something I\’d call a girl who wouldn\’t go out with me. These days it stands for something else entirely. Ultra Low Emission Zone and it will apply to the current congestion zone within London.
Who will it affect?
ULEZ will be in addition to the existing congestion charge if you drive into the city. Currently if you ride into or through central London on a bike or scooter you\’re exempt from the congestion charge, after all we help to reduce congestion and lots of commuters/couriers etc use two wheels to get through and around the city.
From April 2019 if your scooter or bike was made before Euro 3 regs came into force in July 2007, ULEZ will cost you £12.50 per day to ride through the Ultra Low Emission Zone.
Some \’early adopter\’ machines met Euro3 spec before July 2007 but you need to check with the manufacturer if your machine did.
TFL have a website set up to find out where you with have to pay the ULEZ charge. Use Check Your Vehicle.
The charge also applies to cars/vans/busses and lorries. Petrol cars will be exempt if they meet Euro 4, diesel cars if they meet Euro 6. Coaches and lorries will be charged £100. Black cabs will be exempt.
Historic vehicle
Thankfully there is small glimmer of hope for some of us classic scooter owners. There\’s an exemption for vehicles registered as historic with an \’historic\’ vehicle tax class. Hold on to those pre-\’77 scooters…
I\’m a Londoner
If you live inside the ULEZ zone then your vehicle will be exempt until 2022. If you have any rusty old scooters you\’d like to get rid of before then feel free to send them up north.
365 days a year
The ULEZ charge will be in force 365 days a year, 24 hours a day.
T-Charge
In an effort to get the most polluting car drivers used to being held-to-ransom, a new £10 per day T-Charge, or Toxicity Charge will be introduced in October 2017. It will apply to petrol and diesel cars made before Euro 4 (for cars) came into force in 2005.
Extending the ULEZ
Plans have been mooted for the ULEZ area to be extended beyond Central London to cover a much wider area encompassing the South Circular and North Circular ring-road. You can have your say on the proposals on the Transport for London website.
Why are they doing this?
The point is to ease pollution in the cities, which is getting worse as traffic levels increase. After years of worrying about carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide, the main pollution target has shifted now to reducing levels of Nitrogen Oxides (NOx)
Is this fair?
No, it doesn\’t make a lot of sense to be honest. From the graph above – supplied by Transport for London – you can see that motorcycles make up 0% of NOx pollution by their own figures. So why target bikes at all?
Don\’t be complacent
Even if you live outside London, don\’t think that you are getting away with it. Ten cities in the UK have announced plans to follow London\’s lead with daily charges for diesels and older vehicles.
The timetables for implementation are most likely to be set by how fast Councils can roll-out the Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) systems to enforce it.
Given the 0% pollution contribution figure offered by TFL then there\’s a good chance to argue for motorcycle and scooter exemption if there are consultations in your area.
Iggy & Sticky
Come up north, duck London