London Mayor wants diesel scrappage scheme
How can we improve air quality in our cities?
The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has called on the government to introduce a national diesel scrappage scheme .
The aim of the scrappage scheme is to scrap older diesel cars when the owner buys a new vehicle
The government is trying to encourage people to get rid of older diesel vehicles and buy electric and hybrid vehicles.
Of course the scrappage scheme is controversial; not everybody agrees with it
What are the environmental advantages of scrapping lots of vehicles which are probably still in good condition. They can be repaired and will the scrappage scheme mainly mean that the vehicle manufacturers can sell lots of new vehicles?
Making new cars has an environmental cost and, of course it means jobs for workers in the car industry and profits for the Motor Manufactureres
Sadiq Khan is the Mayor of London and he is blaming diesel cars, he is blaming older diesel cars for air pollution and poor air quality.
Some people say that buses and taxis are big contributors to diesel pollution of the air and some people are very unhappy that diesel cars are being targeted.
They say that a few years ago the government was encouraging people to buy diesel.
Now all of a sudden things are different and certain people feel let down
Sadiq Khan is not happy with the levels of nitrogen oxide in the air. He says that the levels are too high and he also said that he would not rule out banning diesel vehicles from London all together if the air quality does not improve.
Some people argue that it is not just cars that cause pollution - they talk about aeroplanes, farm tractors and other kinds of machinery.
Some people when talking about the traffic problems in London point to black cabs and buses.
All these are running on diesel engines and what happens about uber cabs?
They are diesel but there are not so many controls on them.
The Guardian newspaper recently printed an interview with Sadiq Khan he said
"The toxic state of our air leaves us with no choice but to rid our city of the most polluting diesel vehicles. It is shocking that nearly half of new car sales in the UK are still diesel vehicles and the tax system still incentivises motorist to buy these polluting cars"
Some people do not like the diesel scrappage scheme; they think that it will mainly benefit the vehicle manufacturers and simply help them to sell more cars. Also the older vehicles which are being scrapped mean that fewer economically priced cars will be available for people with less money to spend.