London ULEZ: 'I'll have to travel 90 minutes to Hertfordshire for my food shop if £12.50 charge is expanded'

One of my neighbours had a car i can't remember the exact model but it was a little 1.5 nissan not that old (less than 10 years) and it didn't meet the ULEZ.When she told me i was surprised and i checked the reg myself and it was shown as non compliant.The car i was driving at the time was older and was fine.

Petrol versus diesel I think.

My family own a 17 yr old petrol Golf, it complies.  A 12 year old Audi diesel doesn't.

2015 is roughly the cut for diesel cars, 2006 for petrol cars.

Neither car is likely to be driven in London.

I suspect you're right i never asked about the fuel.

mattw wrote:

The chap lives *inside* the zone so does he not have to give Sadiq Khan his filthy lucre just for leaving the gate? How does driving to Timbuktu, Hertfordshire, rather than Brent Cross, help - since both are outside the captive zone and he will have to pay to leave his home. 

He says in the article "Hertfordshire is only about 100 yards from here," so I suspect he's planning, as I've seen a number of others say they will, to leave his car up the road outside the ULEZ and going from there to a shopping area outside London to avoid the charge.

David9694 wrote:

So suddenly a bit of walking is OK for him?? 

I don't think I've seen a detailed map of the proposed ULEZ - are its boundaries the same as Greater London? You pay to cross into it, not if you're already in it, is that right?

Yes the boundaries are the same as Greater London, but the charge is levied (if you have a non-compliant vehicle) for driving in it, no matter where you started from, whether you are entering London from outside or making an internal journey entirely within London boroughs. One thing that won't be the case, and many people online seem to believe, is that non-compliant vehicles won't be charged every day, only when in use, you don't have to pay the charge if the vehicle is parked on the street outside your house without moving.

Re his walking, he doesn't say that he has any illnesses or conditions that limit his mobility (and I'm pretty sure he would've mentioned them if he did), it's a dozen years until I reach 65, I'm hoping that when (if!) I get there I don't regard half a mile to the bus stop as an unreasonable walking distance, as he appears to.

No, you pay to cross into it or, if you are already in it, when you drive there (but in both cases, only with a vehicle that doesn't meet the emissions standards).

From the TfL website: "The Mayor of London has asked TfL to consult on proposals for expanding the Ultra Low Emission Zone on 29 August 2023.

"The expanded zone would cover the same area as the Low Emission Zone. Though most vehicles already meet the ULEZ emissions standards, drivers of vehicles that don't meet the standards would need to pay a £12.50 daily ULEZ charge to drive within the expanded zone.

"This includes residents of the ULEZ. However, you wouldn't need to pay the daily charge if you are parked inside the zone and don't drive on that day."

The map below shows the proposed ULEZ from 2023, ie the whole of Greater London (nb seems there is some leeway on motorways etc to allow drivers to get to next junction and turn round if they don't fancy paying etc).

The next zone within that is the current ULEZ zone (expanded last October) ie the area within the North and South Circular roads, and the smaller area in the centre is the Congestion Charge Zone.

I think one problem is that there's a widespread assumption that every vehicle is subject to ULEZ ... certainly when they expanded it last year, a friend living the other side of the North Circular thought she would have to pay, even though she'd not long got a new car fully compliant with the standards.

Simon_MacMichael wrote:

I think one problem is that there's a widespread assumption that every vehicle is subject to ULEZ ... certainly when they expanded it last year, a friend living the other side of the North Circular thought she would have to pay, even though she'd not long got a new car fully compliant with the standards.

And a car doesn't have to be that new to be compliant. Before we moved out of London, we were living just inside the North Circular and the new ULEZ. We never used the car in London, only for long-distance journeys out of London. I was therefore a bit annoyed at the prospect of paying £12.50 for the 0.5 miles of our journey which was inside the ULEZ, but fundamentally supported the idea of the ULEZ. I was pleasantly surprised when I realised our 15 year old car was actually compliant. [EDIT: just seen the comments above in the same vein]        

On a close reading of the article (which is a total mess) I think what he's suggesting is that, in order to continue using his preferred (not closest) shopping centre (not just food shop) without paying the £12.50 charge, he would have to walk and get public transport, and that this would involve him crossing into Hertfordshire.

But I can't be sure, as the article seems to be designed mainly for attaching adverts to, with lofty ideas such as comprehenisbility a distant second.              

The headline is a mish mash as well. He reckons it would take him 90 mins to get to brent cross by Public transport (all public transport options reckon 40-50 mins - there is even a direct bus from Stanmore Station to Brent Cross shopping centre). 

So why would it take him 90 mins to get to Hertfordshire (Watford?) to shop, which he doesn't like going to and which would still effect him anyway as he would still be in the ULEZ? Unless of course he is on the line and would only be affected if he drove into London. 

AlsoSomniloquism wrote:

The headline is a mish mash as well. He reckons it would take him 90 mins to get to brent cross by Public transport (all public transport options reckon 40-50 mins - there is even a direct bus from Stanmore Station to Brent Cross shopping centre). 

So why would it take him 90 mins to get to Hertfordshire (Watford?) to shop, which he doesn't like going to and which would still effect him anyway as he would still be in the ULEZ? Unless of course he is on the line and would only be affected if he drove into London. 

From the centre of Stanmore, by public transport it's 40-50 minutes.  If he lives 100 yards from the Hertfordshire border, it is probably closer to the timings in the article - and probably* about 10 miles drive (7.5 miles cycle) to Brent Cross - and 5 miles drive or cycle to Watford.  I'm not sure why he's complaining about the shops in Watford - it's got a lot more going for it than many town centres (might not be saying much).

* I picked a fairly random location near the Hertfordshire border between Stanmore and Watford.

Nat Jas Moe wrote:

Shame that Mr Khan doesn't hate his chauffeur driven Range Rover enough to take TFL transport and lead by example. But then he probably knows just how long time wise the journey will be and how unreliable the service is.

Mr Khan regularly used the tube when he was an MP (saw him in person doing so more than once), since he became the Muslim Mayor of one of the largest and most famous cities in the world he has received almost daily death threats (from both sides, from white supremacists and Muslim extremists), when the threat level is high his Met Police personal protection team insist on him travelling in a secure vehicle. He probably has a higher profile than any public figure in London other than the PM or the senior royals, do you see them on public transport much? To use public transport when the risk of attack is high would be to put his protection team and the public at unnecessary risk.

With that said. I have bumped into David Lammy several times whilst taking the tube in to work.

Not as high profile as Khan though.

RoubaixCube wrote:

With that said. I have bumped into David Lammy several times whilst taking the tube in to work.

He's asked me to ask you if you'd mind stopping all the bumping, it's a bit of a pain.