Some 'green' cars do not have to pay the 'congestion' charge in London.
Why is this? The car is still there making a 'congestion', or am I missing something?
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They are less polluting (!) so there is an exemption from congestion charge.
Consider it as a tax to drive inside London.
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I am a cityboy, I am from Manchester and I am used to pollution and its effects. However when I go to London I am still hit by the smell. The smog smell is far worse in London that it is in Manchester and other cities.
I expect a big part of the congestion charge is to try and reverse that trend. London are also very strict about the emissions form buses too, I think all buses need to be Euro 3 complient to run in central London without paying a massive fee.
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"The smog smell is far worse in London"
There is no smog in London (or anywhere else, come to that) as there is now virtually nowhere where you are allowed to burn products that produce smoke. And there's very little fog these days either.
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...as there is now virtually nowhere where you are allowed to burn products that produce smoke...
Traffic fumes?
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Was meaning that smog sort of smell rather than smog itself. I am just about old enough to remember that smell in Manchester. I think burning coal has been banned from as long as I have been alive in Manchester but 20 years ago there was a lot more pollution from vehicles.
My emits 119k/gm now I know it is only a 1.1 litre engine but the design is 25 years old. It is done by all the clever electronics and using special tyres. I wonder how much k/gm a 1.1 would emit from 20 years back? I know the Fiesta 1.3 (but only 4 more bhp than my Panda) emits 156k/gm.
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You're quite right it's either a congestion charge or a pollution charge. Cannot do both at same time.
As a lesson on this, City of London resolved a few years ago to exempt electric cars from parking fees. They abandoned the policy when Bankers bought loads of those hideous Gee-Wizz things!!
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It's just a penalty to try and reduce the congestion in the city. The green angle is added to give it additional justification and because it's trendy these days. It's popular to be seen doing something.
I can assure you. If everyone suddenly changed to hybrids the congestion charge would be applied to any car regardless.
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'Congestion' charge and 'green' cars - movilogo
