Steve928 Posted April 7, 2017 Share Posted April 7, 2017 Alanb - 2017-04-06 9:14 PM My wife and I live in a rural area, and air quality can be attrocious when the local farmer is operating his fleet of massive John Deer tractors close to us. These vehicles pay zero VED, and use rebated red diesel, Anyone want to try banning diesel tractors? And.. they've become bigger than the lanes they drive down so smash the road edges and flatten the verges and drainage channels and are 30+ ton missiles driven by 17 year olds on a standard driving licence. The licence exemption for agricultural vehicles dates back to the time that tractors were tiny little grey or red Massey Fergusons on 4" wide tyres and they haven't been updated since. Don't get me started on tractors.. Oh you already have! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John52 Posted April 7, 2017 Share Posted April 7, 2017 Steve928 - 2017-04-07 5:41 PM Alanb - 2017-04-06 9:14 PM My wife and I live in a rural area, and air quality can be attrocious when the local farmer is operating his fleet of massive John Deer tractors close to us. These vehicles pay zero VED, and use rebated red diesel, Anyone want to try banning diesel tractors? And.. they've become bigger than the lanes they drive down so smash the road edges and flatten the verges and drainage channels and are 30+ ton missiles driven by 17 year olds on a standard driving licence. The licence exemption for agricultural vehicles dates back to the time that tractors were tiny little grey or red Massey Fergusons on 4" wide tyres and they haven't been updated since. Don't get me started on tractors.. Oh you already have! Over the years I have noticed the British Government always comes down on the side of landowners - subsidizing farmers is just one instance - another is they were the last to ban rogue wheelclampers - another is their interventions in the housing market to force up prices...... A good way to reduce city congestion and pollution would be to relax parking charges and restrictions to stop people driving round in circles looking for somewhere to park - but that would offend the landowners and Tory councils making money out of it :-S (Westminster Council makes so much money out of the motorist they can charge less council tax on Buckingham Palace than a 3 bed semi in opther parts of the country) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Archiesgrandad Posted April 7, 2017 Share Posted April 7, 2017 I feel terrible. Not only do I have an elderly diesel motorhome, and a diesel powered car, but the primary form of heating in our little French house is a log burning stove. Add to that the number of times each year that CG flies backward and forward between Bergerac and Stansted, I expect to see my name on the Interpol wanted list any day now. AGD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve928 Posted April 7, 2017 Share Posted April 7, 2017 Archiesgrandad - 2017-04-07 8:30 PM I feel terrible. Not only do I have an elderly diesel motorhome, and a diesel powered car, but the primary form of heating in our little French house is a log burning stove. AGD 2 diesel cars, 1 diesel motorhome, a log-burning stove AND oil central heating here. The oil central heating burns approximately twice as many litres per annum as we consume in all 3 vehicles and the technology hasn't really improved since the 60s; just squirt it in through a very low pressure jet and burn it with a nice orange flame. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bulletguy Posted April 8, 2017 Share Posted April 8, 2017 paulmold - 2017-04-06 11:08 AM There is a petition against discrimination of diesel cars. This just doesn't affect the driving into cities as proposed but the addition of tax on diesel fuel. After all the government encouraged us to buy diesel vehicles as we would take less oil from the ground and oil supplies would last longer. Some reports suggest diesel is no more harmful than petrol, it depends which report you believe and who pays for the report. Any further tax either on fuel or road tax would have a huge effect on the leisure industry as a whole, as owners may be encouraged to drive less distances and also employment affected from builders of motorhomes and caravans through the sales industry to the caravan park employees etc. Motorhomes generally cover much less distances than cars and therefore last a lot longer. Any attempt to bring in a scrappage scheme for diesel vehicles would have a much greater impact on motorhome owners than car owners. Perhaps it would be nice if MMM were to campaign for us as well as the major clubs. https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/182686 Good post Paul. Looking back through my motoring life i'm afraid the cynic within me tells me little has changed in the way UK Gov tax. I still remember the time when petrol was more expensive than diesel. There were not that many diesel cars to choose from and most were poor so very few people bothered buying. As the engineering of them became increasingly refined, people began buying and over the years they've improved beyond recognition. Modern day BMW, Audi and Merc produce diesel engines which give staggering performance. As sales of diesels increased, hey presto, the price swaps and diesel suddenly becomes the higher priced fuel. UK Gov sussed there were enough diesels on the road for them to make plenty of money from. Exactly the same will eventually happen with the £20 and zero rated VED cars. That's never going to last so once there's a few more on the roads, UK Gov will increase the tax. As for pollution, my son lives in Richmond which is in the LEZ zone. One of Heathrow airports main flight paths is nearby and 747's, huge Dreamliners, A380's etc are all flying in every 60 seconds. They are used to it, they don't even notice them, yet when i've been there on a warm day i can smell the aviation fuel lingering.....and i smoke! My son and his wife don't smoke. Funny but UK Gov don't seem too concerned about that......in fact they are about to expand Heathrow with a third runway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pelmetman Posted April 8, 2017 Share Posted April 8, 2017 I'm doing my bit for UK air quality by spending as much time in Europe as possible :D ......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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