A few weeks ago I received an email from a concerned resident who lives outside the ULEZ, but every so often makes a trip to Brent’s waste and Recycling depot in Abbey Road. The resident drives an older car which is in good condition and runs well, however the car is non-compliant and she would have to pay the ULEZ non-compliancy charge, currently £12.50 per day to attend the recycling centre.
The recycling centre is just off the North Circular Road and just inside the new ULEZ boundary. So I put the question to the lead member for the environment at the full council meeting as to whether Brent could lobby the mayor and TfL to move the boundary slightly so that residents from outside the zone wouldn’t have to pay the charge.
The answer was an emphatic no. Krupa Sheth the lead member for the environment, told full council about the need to reduce pollution and how Brent is doing its bit, and that the boundary was set by TfL and not Brent Council. I replied “I know that, which is why I’m asking the council to ask or lobby TfL." But the answer was no, they wouldn’t.
The road leading to the recycling centre is approximately 100 yards from the boundary of the zone and that part of Abbey Road has no other roads leading off it, so it wouldn’t take much to move the boundary a tiny bit so that residents outside the zone could do their bit and recycle their rubbish. I somehow doubt that more than one or maybe two non compliant vehicles from outside the ULEZ will go to the recycling centre so the impact on pollution would be minimal.
So I’ll be lobbying the mayor and TfL, watch this space….
We are told that the mayor has said that it shouldn’t be that expensive to change your car for a newer compliant vehicle, unfortunately it’s not quite as simple as that.
If you have an older car, you’ll know its history, you’ll have had work done it, you’ll have had it serviced. Buy another car which though may be younger than your present car would still be ‘old’ and probably have an unknown history. In other words, the poorest members of society could be walking into a financial time bomb.
If you are making frequent trips into the Zone, then perhaps it is time to change your car, but if its only occasional, then I’d suggest keep your old car and pay the charge. Which is exactly what I will be doing.
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