I’m interested to hear about those with either a Mk1 or Eunos Roadster who live within the recently expanded ULEZ zone (north / south circular). Basically if you’re not driving into the zone but simply within it have you been charged?
I’m asking because I live in what will be the next expansion of the area, to the M25, and have a Eunos Roadster, so no way compliant. I’m guessing that if a camera doesn’t see you then you don’t get charged. Some have even put in freedom of information (FOI) requests to their local councils to see where the cameras are.
Thanks for the reply. I had seen an FOI request put into a local council that had replied in full but it seems the might have been an old request, because TfL refuse to share for obvious reasons.
But I’m still interested to hear people’s lived experience, ie how frequently are they charged if driving within the zone and not actually crossing the boundary. Essentially, whilst the expectation is that if I use my car I should pay, I’m trying to see what the odds are that this actually does happen.
I would think you’d be OK on small residential roads, but go anywhere near a TFL road ( red route ) and there will be a fine heading your way!
I live just outside the existing ULEZ in Tooting, and thought my 03 plate NB would be subject to the ULEZ charge, but amazingly it’s exempt. Thought it was any petrol older than 05 or diesel older than 2014.
I’m in south east London / Kent (Beckenham), so no red routes around here. I’ve set up auto-pay so if I get it accidentally wrong (always a possibility) I’ll get charged automatically - I see it as a kind of insurance policy!
My assumption is that within the current zone (north / south circular) you’re always going to be relatively close to a camera. But, there’s a chance you might not get spotted by a camera, so no charge. Out here in the wilderness (haha) the odds of getting spotted might be lower. I don’t believe I’ll drive around charge free but unless they invest big bucks they ain’t going to spot everyone. Guess I’ll find out in about 20 months time?
Get a stihil saw (petrol-driven disc cutter), find out where the cameras are, cut them down!
The whole thing is ridiculous - why do we even have to bother getting the emissions down for an MOT when they’re doing things like UELZs?
Not everybody can afford a new car or newer that’s ULEZ compliant, electric cars are a red herring - not enough lithium in the world to put batteries in even half of the worlds cars
I bought my car over 5 years ago, it’s currently being re-sprayed coz the red paintwork is looking a bit tired (understatement) and it still makes me grin hugely to drive it around. We’ve been on various holidays in the UK in past couple of years: York, Cardiff, Lincoln … and it’s never let me down. So, I reckon worse case scenario I’ve got 20 months to enjoy it and then I’ll try and sell or just pay the price …
Being the eternal optimist I’m hopeful that it won’t cost £12.50 every time I reverse it out of the garage. That’s why I’m interested to hear what people’s actual lived experiences of ULEZ are …
And to be honest, even if I could afford it, I don’t like most of these new cars, they don’t have any soul and they def don’t put a huge grin on your face when you drive them!
It’s not ridiculous if you live in the area affected. On a daily basis I see old diesel vans & cars belching noxious particulates close to my home. My kids walk to school in a fug of carcinogenic fumes, so I’ll be happy when ULEZ is extended to cover my neighbourhood. I really wish older MX5’s & other classics were exempt, but I guess it’s tricky to decide where the line is drawn. The existing ULEZ has been proven to clean-up inner city air quality. I thing ( IIRC ) that over 80% of vehicles are now compliant, but they can still roam freely in areas outside the zone.
@SixSpeed thanks for sharing and there’s certainly no disputing the good that has come from this initiative. If there was one thing that became obvious when lockdown first hit was, even out here in the suburbs, how much cleaner the air was - along with the benefit of the drop in noise pollution.
What I’m waiting for is the day when there’s an app which you can use to call a driverless vehicle to take you to where you want to go. I was optimistic that I could keep my eunos roadster going until then - given I do less than 3,000 miles a year and I’m not pumping out anything noxious. And whilst there aren’t likely to be any exemptions there does remain the option to “pay the man”.