Call for diesel scrappage scheme
Concern is growing at the rising number of old diesels on the road, and the potential damage they could be causing to air quality
Ministers should consider scrapping the oldest and dirtiest diesels in the UK to improve air quality.That’s according to the RAC Foundation, which has called for the most polluting models – those around 10 years or older – to be taken off the road.
In a new report, the Foundation claims that there are 29,000 premature deaths every year due to air quality. And now it’s calling on the Government to do something to lower harmful pollutants, which can cause serious illnesses like asthma, heart conditions and cancer.
The popularity of diesel cars has soared in the last 20 years. Lower CO2 emissions and better fuel economy, plus Vehicle Excise Duty and company car incentives, have seen numbers rise from 1.6m in 1994 to 10.1 million in 2013.
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But older diesels typically emit more nitrogen oxide and particulate matter than petrol cars, and these are linked to poor air quality and health issues. “Many people believed that by buying diesels they’d get better fuel consumption and help fight global warming through low CO2 emissions,” Prof. Stephen Glaister, director of the RAC Foundation, explained.
“But such was the focus on the planet that policy makers missed the impact older diesel models in particular have on health in urban areas. The car industry has risen to the challenge of cleaning up diesel engines but we need to deal with the legacy of the dirtiest diesels.”
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A spokesman from the Department for Transport told us that there are no current plans to introduce such a scheme and that other projects were already helping to improve air quality. He said: “There have been major improvements in air quality over the past two decades, and we’re investing £2billion on a range of actions to improve it further. These include promoting ultra-low emission vehicles, greener public transport, walking and cycling.”
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Do what China are doing and scrap 6 million cars that are old and rubbish on the mpg and destroying the air quality. Anything below £1500 should be scrapped asap
Quite a few interesting statements in this article.
"But older diesels typically emit more nitrogen oxide and particulate matter than petrol cars" - whilst true if focused on old v old. It is not so clear cut when we start focusing on modern cars as well.
The statement about cleaning up diesels is not 100% true. Many diesels still have issues surrounding NOx emissions, even modern ones as has been proven by many studies. The focus was on particulates for Euro V not so much on NOx emissions. Plus additionally because of the changes in technology from manufacturers for petrols the EU has put particulate limits on petrols to for Euro VI.
Additionally the other post about getting rid of cars below £1500 because of low MPG's is actually somewhat hilariously inaccurate there are some old cars with excellent MPG's 106 1.4 not fast or luxury but silly MPG same goes for the original MK1 Honda Insight can achieve 90 + MPG.
Maybe im being dumb here, current/new diesel cars are lower tax due to lower CO2 etc,ok..... then again diesel emit more nitrogen oxide than petrol cars so how can diesel cars be cleaner than petrol ?? i dont agree with anything below £1500 should be scrapped as my car a 2003 Lexus IS200 may not even be worth that, if it is now then i wont be when i change cars next year. if government want to do that, they can always pay for my upgrade to lets say a 2009 Lexus IS250 :) didnt think so ! LOL
Scrapping old dirty diesels is not such a bad idea. I see old diesel cars quite often spewing visible smoke and stinking up the whole place.
Quite recently I've seen a Polo 1.9L diesel and a Ford Ka. Small cars causing big damage to the air quality. It is absolutely disgraceful!
However the government probably should do something about the new diesel cars as well. Lower (CO2-only-based) taxes add appeal to diesel cars in addition to their apparent lower running costs. That means another few years down the road we'll be talking of another scrap scheme.
Not much point in this really, as don't most cars get scrapped around the 9-10 year old mark anyway?
Most stuff past 2005 has a DPF fitted as standard too.
I suppose it wouldn't hurt to get rid of non-DPF equipped diesels, but then where does it end, getting rid of Euro IV with DPF too? Arguably they're quite dirty, but still quite new cars in most cases.
So what about old trucks and construction equipment, mobile cranes, are currently running on red diesel, are not limited to drivers hours and dont need tachographs, they dont get mot'd so their emission are not checked, and they are classed as plant vehicles and as such are only £165 a year to tax, so remember next time you see one belching down the road, he is not paying duty on the fuel he is using, he may have been behind the wheel for a long time, and his road tax is probably cheaper than yours..
so first time drivers and buyers have to drive around in expensive to buy and expensive to insure cars because you want to see every car under 1500 scraped, what a load of bull
No they don't have to buy expensive new cars. what am saying is that those cars under 1500 are a danger. No one knows what history the car has and also the cost of the insurance is worth more than the car. Also many of those cars the owners have no insurance and are a liability to those that pay insurance.
Diesels go on far longer than petrol cars - little A2 TDI has just passed 200,000 miles on same exhaust system, no engine trouble and still gets 80+ mpg (UK). There are not many petrol cars that owners keep throwing money at past 10 years if they do lots of miles.
Let's not forget the 1999 VW Lupo 3L and 2001 Audi A2 1.2 TDI (81 g/km CO2 and genuine 100 mpg UK if you are careful!)
I'm sorry but you can't judge a car by how much it costs thats just stupid & a inaccurate assumption, I can find many cars For Sale on the used car Market that cost less than £1000 with Full Service history Receipts in immaculate Condition with Plenty of years Trouble Free Motoring Life in them, So what you are Saying is total utter Rubbish sorry & How can you Say that anyone who Drives a car worth less than £1500 is Driving around with no insurance What a Senseless Statement.
**LESS THAN £1500 A DANGER WHAT IS AN MOT FOR THEN ?
**The Government & The Car Manufacturers are The Biggest Bull***** in the World, They Make Out they Care about People & The Environment Ha Your Kidding Me Aren't You, All they both Care about is Making Money & Lots of It, The Car Manufacturers want Everyone to keep Buying there Latest Cars & They Don't care if you can't afford it or get in Debt, & As If they Care About The Environment if they Did they Wouldn't be in the Car Manufacturing Business, it is Much More Environmentally Friendly to keep Older Cars going Than Keep putting More & More cars on the Road, The Amount of Damage Caused to the Environment by Disposing of Cars There Engines/Oil/Metal/Glass/Plastic & Other Non Recyclable Parts is Enormous, yes Alot of people will Argue Alot of these Parts are recyclable but it costs alot of Money & Pollution to do this Recycling in the First Place, & Then there Putting Millions of Cars on the Roads That all give out Tones of Pollution & Lie & Make out there Cleaner than they Actually Are There Oil Burning Combustion Engines they Pollute The Air Tremendously No Matter How Many Filters you put on them & The Government Just Wants all Your Money & They Won't Stop Thinking of New Ways to get it either, They'll just keep Making New Taxes & Fees & Insurances & So called Safety Laws Resulting in Fining People.
**There's Already a Scrappage Scheme For All Cars Petrol & Diesel included It's Called the Scrappage Scheme.
Instead of hiding behind an Identity. Tell me your name. Tell me what car do you drive if any. I'll put this too you. The vast majority of cars the police pull over and mainly destroy on the campdown of uninsured drivers etc are these such vehicles and also why do the insurance companies charge more for older vehicles compared to newer ones
It's pretty pointless getting sanctimonious about people using their real name. doing so is usually a barrel scraping ad hominem argument that people use when they've go nothing else. A real name makes zero difference to the point being made, and there is nothing to prove that "Michael Simpkins" is your real name anyway.
So come down off the high horse.
There are relatively very very few large plant vehicles, and taking them all off the road today would make negligible difference which is why the mass use vehicles are being addressed.
Diesel = dirty carcinogenic sooty stuff being carried right into town centres and being blasted out directly onto our faces.
What a stupid statement... My 2005 Astra 1.6 is probably worth £1500 at most, its got 90k miles on it, is serviced and MOTed every year and is still as flawless as the day I bought it. Yes it gets at most 40mpg but my round trip to work is only 14 miles and I'm not exactly in a position to get a newer car...
They might be capable of going on for much longer (although newer designs with high BHP figures can be more temperamental), but our collective obsession with new metal still means that perfectly good, serviceable cars go to the crusher because they're not worth anything. Just check out the figures for mainstream cars on the How Many Left website.
The car industry has risen to the challenge of cleaning up diesel engines
No they haven't - then just store up all the soot and then boot it out when you're in the countryside! Our emissions based road tax should be on ALL emissions, not just CO2 - look at the reviews of diesel cars in this very mag to see how much CO2 diesels ACTUALLY put out rather than the lying claims. Compare this to the relatively accurate petrol figures.
What a ridiculously elitist attitude to have, given the running costs of a vehicle in the UK many people have no option but to run low value cars. It doesn't necessarily mean they are dangerous. Personally I have recently bought a 2002 SAAB 9-5 Aero Estate with 70K miles on the clock, one owner and full SAAB service history for the miniscule sum of £1350. Its fantastic value and a safe family load lugger. I bought the car out of choice rather than necessity as its more important to me to have a functional and safe car than a fancy phallic symbol in some sort of attempt to impress other around me.
Er how do you believe large structures are built, or roads are repaired, or rail lines are laid, how many large plant vehicles where used in the centre of London to build Olympic Park or Wembley, or what about HS2, every time you see events televised with an ariel view, its most likely from a large cherry picker, and as I stated they are all running on agricultural diesel, with no emission regulations in place whatsoever, at least a car or HGV or a bus have to comply to pass an MOT.
its surprising how we haven't yet switched to hydrogen, with all the technology we have.