T-Charge Starts Monday, All You Need To Know...

The T-Charge starts this Monday. Here’s everything you need to know about the new tax...

When does the T-charge come in?

The charge will be brought in on October 23, 2017.

It will apply between 7am and 6pm on weekdays.

Where does the T-charge apply?

Who does the T-Charge apply to?

The charge will apply to vehicles that do not meet Euro 4 standards.

This typically applies to petrol and diesel vehicles registered before 2006.

How do I know if my vehicle is affected by the T-charge?

Your vehicle registration certificate will tell you what its Euro ranking is.

Transport for London also has a T-charge checker you can use to find out if you will need to pay the new fee as well as the congestion charge.

You can check your vehicle >here<.

Who is exempt from the T-charge?

• Disabled blue badge holders.

• Motorcycles, mopeds and scooters that are exempt from the congestion charge.

• Taxis and private hire vehicles (PHVs) are exempt from paying the congestion charge and the T-charge when actively licensed with TfL. The exemption for PHVs only applies to private hire bookings.

• Vehicles with a historic tax class (40 years and older) and/or commercial vehicles manufactured before 1973. These are still subject to the congestion charge.

• Emergency service vehicles, such as ambulances and fire engines, which have a taxation class of ‘ambulance’ or ‘fire engine’ on the date of travel.

• NHS vehicles exempt from vehicle excise duty, and Ministry of Defence vehicles.

• Roadside recovery vehicles and accredited breakdown vehicles registered for a 100% discount from the congestion charge.

• Specialist off-road vehicles such as tractors and mobile cranes (that are exempt from Low Emission Zone).

There are also a number of other exemptions and discounts available - check here for the full list.

While the charge has been welcomed by many, it has also had some critics.

Conservative London Assembly environment spokesman, Shaun Bailey, said the charge would inflict “crippling additional costs on small businesses”, as well as “expense, disruption and bureaucracy for London residents.”

    Assembly member Shaun with Dodgy Dave

According to the BBC, he also claimed it would not produce “any significant results” when it came to the battle against air pollution.

TAXI LEAKS EXTRA BIT :

So, all taxis licensed by TfL are exempt at all times.

All private hire vehicles licensed by TfL are exempt, but only applies they have a booking.....How is this workable, how will TfL know if a PHV has a pre booking on board. They don't even have a proper definition of pre booking or plying for hire now. What's going to be different on Monday?

Obviously, space will be made available, should TfL wish to clear up this confusion over pre bookings, straight away bookings, immediate eHailing and plying for hire.

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Not Fit And Proper To Be A Licensing Authority? Part 1.... By Jim Thomas.

A few weeks ago, drivers started reporting sightings of private hire vehicles, sporting liveries for a certain Russian Cable News Channel. 

TfLTPH confirmed that the full vehicle livery, in some cases covering the rear TfL roundel, was not authorised. 

Not forgetting that Addison Lee took absolutely no notice of TfL, when told their Rugby World Cup livery was illegal, they carried on and saw their contract through. When asked if any action had been taken against Addison Lee, TfLTPH confirmed that no action was taken.

Sighting continue on a daily basis and we now appear to have another band of brothers, taking no notice of TfL....why should they as no action was taken in the past.

Recently, Taxi drivers were warned that their Taxis could have their TfL licence revoked if they left a certain copy of a trade paper in the back window....

TfL PCOs were insisting drivers removed copies of the trade paper from view, with some COs saying the paper was being used as unauthorised signage, while others stated the paper constituted unauthorised advertising. 

Either way, if the paper was not removed, the vehicle's TfL licence would be revoked.

Is this more proof of TfLTPH's bias against the licensed Taxi trade?

At present, TfL appear to be waiting until they have a complaint against each individual PH vehicle carrying the livery. They then inform the person complaining that the vehicles owner will be contacted by compliance and told to remove the livery. Going on the abundance of sightings (often the same vehicles already reported), this doesn't appear to be happening. 

Surely (if TfLTPH compliance were serious), it would make more sense to contact the company supplying the wraps, inform them that the work they are carrying out is in breach of current legislation and ask for a complete list of PHVs already given liveries. That way every vehicle, in contravention of the PHV act 1998, could be notified and within days all illegal adverts removed. 

Even the Met police are now stopping noncompliant PHVs.

In this security conscious climate, the Met have more important issues to deal with, without doing TfLTPH compliance's job for them!

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"All I Am Concerned About.... Sean Paul Day....In His Own Words

All I am concerned about is the dereliction of duty by those whose remit it is to act as arbitrators of the law. Facilitating an unpreced-ented attack on tens of thousands of individuals (and their families).  

All I am concerned about is a government that values privilege over endeavour; disregarding stringent regulations put in place to protect and honour the safety and liberty of the travelling public.  

All I am concerned about is  policymakers that think it’s okay to disregard our democratic constitution, but then claim they are the torch bearers of free enterprise and consumer choice 

All I am concerned about, is those who wilfully and knowingly, permit the illegal activity of predatory pricing, and then claim the ‘markets will prevail’.  

All I am concerned about is the gross misrepresentation of a product that is redefining employment laws,  legal rights, and data protection policies. 

All I am concerned about, is everything we deemed to be of primary importance just a few years ago is now a distant second. Disability rights, concerns for the sight and hearing impaired, zero hour contracts, and regulation. 

All I am concerned about is, the ‘effects’ of deregulation. Despite  evidence in abundance, the vulnerability of those 

travelling in a vehicle with a stranger is not pose the same threat as it once did? 

All I am concerned about is,  phenomenal technology being monopolised by corporations and the government and used ultra-virally to determine outcomes that favour vested interests.  

All I am concerned about is,  advocates of the above have never considered conducting impact data to determine the detrimental effect of the State assisting the decimation of workers lives.  

I am concerned about all of the above, and if you endorse Uber- or even passively advocate their return- then you no doubt are happy to represent everything mentioned here.  

With that, I trust you accept, that we should all  have concerns about you. 

The shared economy is a euphemism for incomes not keeping pace with the cost of living. It’s solely concerned with the working and lower-working classes. It is then wrapped up as empowering to rent your second bedroom or hire out your car. Surely, we have always been able to do that? But now the money men have found a way to take a cut. After all,  I don’t see them sharing bedrooms Balmoral or Chequers, do you? 

SPD

    

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Time For Mayor To Honour Pledge And Publish Taxi & PH Collision Data !

Oxford leads the world in zero emissions (as long as everyone walks!)

With the government’s new aim to stop the sale of petrol and diesel cars by 2040, towns and cities around the country are looking at ways to reduce traffic and pollution. Oxford claims to be leading the way with its aim of being the world’s first zero-emissions zone. However, is the promise really all it seems?

The scheme

Oxford’s proposal aims to slash air pollution, which has risen to above legal limits in some areas due to the amount of harmful nitrogen dioxide in the air. The plans are currently undergoing consultation. They involve prohibiting any non-zero emission taxis from the centre of the city, followed by light commercial vehicles and then buses by 2020.

Critics of Oxford’s rather grandiose plan to host the world’s first zero emissions zone might well latch onto the fact that banning traffic from a city centre is not really a viable way to reduce emissions – not unless our cities are prepared to roll out fleets of electric taxis, buses and delivery lorries in the very near future. 

Additionally, the map of the proposed scheme’s boundaries (PDF) demonstrates the rather small scale of the initial zero emissions zone, which covers just a handful of streets.

Nevertheless, Oxford is going ahead with the consultation for its ‘world first’ plan. The city aims to have a zero-emissions zone that will cover all non-electric vehicles, including HGVs. This zone would expand to cover the whole of the city centre by 2035, according to plans created jointly by the city and county councils. This would result in a 75% reduction in the levels of nitrogen dioxide by the time the scheme completes in 2035, as most of these pollutants come from vehicle exhausts.

Changing position

The plan comes after Oxford was one of 11 cities to breach the (so called) safe limit for toxic particles known as PM10s in a study by the World Health Organization last year. It also breached the limits for PM2.5 particles.

The city council has secured some £500,000 worth of government funding in order to install electric charging points for new taxis, along with a further £800,000 to create 100 electric vehicle charging points for residents. However, officials admit more will be needed to deliver the planned zero-emissions zone.

Problems around the country

Many towns and cities around the UK are facing a similar problem, but the Oxford model doesn’t work for everyone. Part of the reason for this is that the university city already has a high percentage of pedestrianised areas where no vehicles travel. This means there is less traffic in the centre of Oxford than in many other cities of a similar size.

Other cities have already tried. London operated a scheme until 2015 that aimed to create a low emissions zone. Founded in 2008, the scheme saw vehicles that failed to meet a low-emissions standard having to pay to enter the city. The aim was to dramatically reduce the polluting gases and particles that Londoners were being exposed to daily.

Unfortunately, the scheme had little impact. The predicted 10% drop in oxides that was expected by 2012 didn’t happen and, three years later, the air quality had not improved at all.

Understanding the problems

According to experts, one of the problems was that the scheme came alongside the growing realisation that diesel vehicles were much more polluting than everyone thought. The scheme has now been replaced with the Ultra Low Emission Zone, along with a plan to convert all double-decker buses in central London to hybrids and all single decker buses to zero emissions by 2020.

Yet this doesn’t deal with the problem of taxis, delivery vehicles and HGVs, which are still polluting the air space. The Oxford model of simply banning these vehicles certainly wouldn’t be feasible in London. It seems that further work is needed before we have a model that can work in all of the UK’s cities and help improve the air quality for everyone.

Source Lisa Edwards PetrolPrices.com

TAXI LEAKS EXTRA BIT :

What else can we do to reduce air pollution in our cities? 

How long will it be before we have a plan in place that’s both realistic and effective? 

Leave a comment to share your views. 

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Khan's Uber Ban UNDER THREAT ? : Drivers Can Register With deregulated Councils.

Another Rat Deserts Uber's Sinking Ship

Uber’s European policy chief just quit

In another blow to the company, Uber’s European policy chief Christopher Burghardt has left the company, the Financial Times reports [paywall]. 

Burghardt’s departure follows the departure of Uber’s U.K. boss earlier this month and comes in the middle of Uber’s battle with London over the future of its services there. Burghardt is leaving to become managing director for the electric vehicle charging network company Chargepoint in Europe. 

His role there will begin in November. Burghardt told the FT his decision to move on was “independent of anything that is happening at Uber.” He also noted:

For me this is a choice because I really believe in Chargepoint and the advent of the electric vehicle. Europe at the point of getting to mass market adoption of electric vehicles, and Chargepoint is at the forefront of that.

“I’m still a great believer in what Uber does. [New Uber CEO] Dara [Khosrowshahi] really has vision that will take the company into a bright future.”

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