British Government Announces Plans To Scrap Diesel Cars
21st Feb, 2017
The latest in car scrapping news comes fairly left of field. We tend to associate heavy smog with places like China or India, but it turns out it’s a bigger problem in Britain than perhaps most people think. And the primary culprits? Diesel cars!
Pollution from diesel cars and the effect on our health
Despite the government having once put its full bureaucratic force behind the sale of diesel cars in the early naughties, we’ve since discovered they’re actually not fantastic for your health, which is a bit embarrassing. It’s true, they do indeed produce lower levels of carbon emissions than petrol cars, but they compensate by emitting far higher levels of nitrous dioxide, which causes coughing, sore throats and sore eyes. Our older population, or other folks with respiratory problems, are especially vulnerable to its effects. Pollution is quickly becoming a big problem in the eyes of the government, with at least 20,000 deaths associated with it nationally each year. Londoners are especially unhappy, given the research that indicates it shortens their lives by between nine and 16 months. So what are we doing about it?
The Government Is Considering Scrapping Diesel Cars
A government bod was recently quoted as saying “we’re firmly committed to improving the UK’s air quality and cutting harmful emissions”. It looks like the first step to tackling the UK’s filthy air issue might very well be by encouraging diesel owners to scrap their cars for considerable incentives. Basically, they want to encourage the sale of newer, more eco-friendly models with lower emissions – electric vehicles are a prime candidate right now. Though the official stance can fairly be said to be a bit tentative right now, it looks like government officials are keen for diesel cars to be removed from British roads completely by 2030. Meanwhile they’re going to be pouring some mighty spending power (£600m) into infrastructure for lower-emissions alternatives – such as charging stations for electric cars – by as early as 2020.
How The Scrap Car Plan Looks So Far
So far, some commentators are pretty optimistic about the scheme’s success – scrapping diesel cars over 10 years old might mean a tidy discount of £2000 for drivers, helping them get well on the way to buying a newer, more eco-friendly vehicle. A previous car scrapping scheme ran between 2009 and 2010, and was almost universally considered to be a success – consumers found themselves visiting showrooms for the first time, boosted by the government discounts, while the government rode the wave of VAT from the new purchases.
Having said that, there are some more cautious outlooks on this latest plan. The Director of Motoring Research at the RAC Foundation reckons that the scheme runs the risk of triggering a huge bill for the Exchequer, without the added benefit of sweet success. He also notes that the infrastructure for widespread use of electric vehicles is still developing, which is a fair point (although the use of electric cars is growing at a phenomenal rate). However it eventually shapes up, it looks like we’ll soon find out one way or the other – the new plan could be announced by as early as March 22nd. Watch this space!
In the meantime, at Scrap Car Network we’re still scrapping cars as usual, whatever they use for fuel. Just enter your postcode and car reg onto our website, and within moments you’ll be looking at an instant price for your scrap car. It’s all smooth sailing from there!
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