City ban for old cars?

Classic car movement fears that older motors will be banished from Britain's roads.

Auto Express Car Reviews

By Ross Pinnock

22nd February 2008

Outraged motorists are petitioning the Government to prevent old cars from being consigned to the scrapheap. Enthusiasts are worried that UK councils could decide to ban vehicles over 10 years old from our town and city centres.

That equals a quarter of all the cars in Britain – around 6.5 million. A petition on the 10 Downing Street website has now been started to raise support for keeping these machines on the road. “The proposals directly threaten the classic car movement,” it states. The worry is that a system about to be trialled in Stuttgart, Germany, will provide a model that councils in this country could follow.

From the beginning of March, motorists wishing to enter the designated city-wide green zone will have to buy a sticker to display in their vehicle. But the system operates a four-tier classification based on emissions and only cars in the three lowest groups are eligible for a sticker.

The worst-polluting cars are simply banned. Those for which emissions data is unavailable – such as classic and vintage models – face a decision based on age. In Stuttgart, petrol examples registered before the start of 1993 are excluded from the zone. If a similar scheme was implemented in UK towns, it could force many cars that are currently regarded as classics off our roads.

The deadline for joining the petition is 18 March, and at the time of going to press more than 20,000 protesters had already signed up. Log on to the site at http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Classic-Cars if you want to add your name to the list.

Tell us about your car in our Driver Power survey.