Which raises something of a 2-dimensional thinking on the part of government (surely not)
A VXR8 at 324 g/km gets in free, as its 'young enough'
versus a 2.5 CDX at 263.0 g/km pays, as its a 'dirty old' car
Why not base any charge on the vehicles emissions, rather than simply its age, and the 'dirty' assumption made therein. It’s patently obvious that a Polo 1.0 that’s just outside the ‘free’ age category will pump out less carbons than a Aston Vanquish just under.
You could put in your vehicle reg into a website, app, or post-pay using an ANPR-derived system, same as used in some car parks. That would tell you whether your vehicle is eligible, and more fairly, introducing a gradient system would in reality help. Maybe...
0-100g/km FREE
101-200 g/km £3
201-300 g/km £6
301-400 g/km £9
401+£12
Or thereabouts.
That’s before we actually take into account the real in practice reality of the situation. I give you 2 scenarios...
1984 Senator that kicks out a chunk of coal every mile drives in and out of the ULEZ covering 20miles.
2018 Hybrid spends all day in there, doing errands, visiting coffee houses, and vegan clothes shops, covers 200miles.
It’s clear that the latter is physically doing more ‘harm’ to Danny Dyer’s lungs than the former. However the Hybrid gets in free. Surely the physical amount of evil chucked out the tailpipe should be the issue.
A retired bloke who runs a classic Jensen, doing 3000m/yr is kicking out less harm to the planet than a Rep who does 80,000m/yr in a super efficient biturbo PHEV SUV thing.