As somebody that will be affected by LEZ I do Despair.
What is LEZ? A diesel vehicle low emission zone which is not UK wide but covers 99% of the area within the M25 circular motorway that rings London. From January 1st 2012 perfectly legal diesel vans and minibuses will not be allowed to enter or drive within this zone. A fine of a hundred pounds each time you do is applied
The vehicles that are not allowed is only calculated by the age of the vehicle and nothing to do if they run clean or what mileage they clock up yearly. Many private owners of historic vehicles will be forced to scrap the them or sell them to people far away from London. Charities and scouting organisations that have older minibuses will be hit very hard as they can not afford new ones or a filter that will cost a over inflated 3.5K and their is no guarantee that they will work. Most of these minibuses do very low mileage yearly and would produce less emissions that a minibus that complies but is used daily. I have own a small minibus that does two thousand miles a year has a very clean exhaust as the engine is maintained .There is a picture of it in another post in this Blog. The MOT inspector commented when it was took in for it's last MOT that the vehicle had a very good low emission which measured a excellent emission figure of only . 9 out of a maximum of 3.5 which as you can see is well inside the legal requirement but not good enough for London, one law for me and a few others it seems, anyway the only crime my small minibus has broken is that it is pre 2001. Can we remember all those years ago when leaded petrol was the big baddy and we had to get rid of it, since then it hasn't stopped, we (the motorist) are being squeezed out of existence.
XUD9A engine and ill concieved
What's ironic is that the XUD9A engine used in my small mini-bus is used in various cars which includes some Rover models, Lada, Peugout and Citroen and of course the LEZ will not affect them. This proves to me that nobody has been involved with this LEZ that has a knowledge of motor vehicles and this whole unjust fiasco is ill conceived. My old LDV is maintained to a high standard as is the case with anybody who has the love to cherish a older and obsolete set of wheels.
Great news for me, Transport for London has cocked up. Because my small mini-bus has only eight passenger seats it does meet LEZ requirements so I don't have to scrap it after all.
All that stress for nothing.
