London will be the first city to cash in on the new consensus on the toxic nature of diesel engines

Don’t say that you weren’t warned; London will be the first city to cash in on the new consensus on the toxic nature of diesel engines. New Mayor Sadiq Khan has announced a new ‘toxicity charge’ of £10 per day on pre-2005 diesel cars entering central London. This is in addition to the Congestion Charge which us currently £10.00 per day. The cost of this charge, its geographical reach and the age of the cars concerned are expected to change before the end of this decade to capture more cars and more revenue. Other cities are expected to follow, especially once councils observe just how much money this will raise.

This won’t be the last assault on diesels; we can expect whoever is Chancellor once we have a new PM to drastically reduce the tax advantages diesel has for company car drivers and we may even see duty on diesel increased to make it a less attractive fuel. Owners of older diesel cars will see their cars lose value as they become ever more expensive to drive in towns and cities.

The good news is that this tax raid on diesel cars should mean that there is less pressure on government to reduce the financial benefits of electric cars and with the choice of EVs expanding rapidly, there are fewer and fewer reasons not to change.

Read the Times story here.

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