ULTRA LOW EMISSION ZONE

ULEZ: The enforced introduction of a new 'Ultra Low Emission Zone' for all the London boroughs means that once again, poorer people will be made to suffer. People haven't been given a vote on ULEZ. Of course, the public rarely are given a say on such things. Such 'decisions' being made 'on their behalf' by flawed individuals of very moderate intelligence and questionable understanding. Even when authorities say they consult, they don't! They lie! It is quite obvious they have already made up their minds. They simply do not listen to, or consider the feelings of the ordinary people that pay their wages.

Ill-Motivated! The ULEZ scheme is poorly thought and gives no consideration to mileage quotas, or location of residence. To top it all, many experts consider the ULEZ expansion will make little difference to the overall air quality. However, the stress and worry that comes with it will take its toll on the health and mental health of those who are expected to comply, punishing the people who can least afford it by significantly impacting their finances and adversely affecting their quality of life. A point that seems to lost on the people pushing ahead with this corrupt and ill-motivated scheme.

Already Up Against It! On top of people not being able to work, due to Covid-19, we have a cost-of-living crisis, triggered by the war in Ukraine. Everything has gone up. We have also seen the exceptionally greedy people in society profiteering from both. This means the ordinary decent people ARE ALREADY UP AGAINST IT! And let's face it, if you could afford a nice new vehicle, you would have one wouldn't you? Most people haven't precisely because THEY CAN'T AFFORD IT!

Who Is To Blame? It is an absolute fact that the bulk of the congestion and pollution we now face, has been caused by inept social and traffic management by the local authorities, who have wasted inordinate amounts of public money and made a complete mess. Much of what they have done has been against the will of the people, but currently, like rogue traders, they have completely disregarded the majority democratic will. Over populating areas, poor logistic management and nonsensical traffic schemes have caused the bulk of the problems we now see.

Stuck In Traffic! Unnecessary traffic lights. Bus lanes that carve up road resource, forcing vehicles to queue and congest in what's left. Priority give way schemes, also forcing people to stop and start unnecessarily. Blocking access routes and side roads. All such things contribute to making it more difficult for people to go about their business without getting in other's way. All too often people end up being stuck in traffic, coughing out fumes. We could do much better if the authorities themselves stopped implementing schemes which compound congestion and, therefore, add to pollution.

Bully People! We actually need to make the roads more efficient. If you can cut 10 minutes from everyone's half-hour journey, you instantly have a third less traffic on the road. However, for years, local authorities have been doing the reverse. Making life more difficult for the motorist and, as a result, THEY have made the roads more congested and consequently, more polluting. Literally, it seems they have been trying to force people out of their cars and onto the bus. However, this is never going to work for so many reasons (Bus vs Car). Nobody wants it, except those who think they have a right to bully people.

Hardship & Misery! All over this world we see the hardship and misery imparted by flawed individuals of limited intelligence as they worm their way into power and then use their position to abuse the people they are supposed to be serving. Sometimes they simply don't know what they are doing, sometimes they are actually criminal, sometimes even insane. As we know, it still happens!

Lie Through Their Teeth! Even those politicians you think ok, lie through their teeth when it suits them. They think nothing of trying to con the public to get their own way and to push through their own selfish and hidden agendas. Let's face it, they can't even give you a straight answer. Who pays the price for these rogues in power? The ordinary people, that pay for their comfortable lifestyles, and get abused by them in return.

Points To Consider?

Make Your Mind Up! Not so long ago, people were being encouraged to buy diesel vehicles. Now the authorities want to penalize the people that can least afford it. Is that fair?

Sensible? Every vehicle has a carbon footprint. The result of its production and shipping. Is it sensible to be scrapping vehicles that do minimal mileage each week? Or should we let them die out naturally? Especially as it means some people will be under enormous financial strain, and have the worry of replacing a perfectly good vehicle on top. This badly affects morale and people's mental health.

What A Waste! The fact that people are being forced to scrap perfectly good vehicles, even though they may do minimal mileage, means non-compliant vehicle values value will go down and they will be harder, or even impossible to sell. As there will be a high demand for ULEZ compliant vehicles, the price will go up and they will be harder to source, further adding to the difficulties people face.

How Much A Week? The alternative of trying to pay as you go, are also not very practical. Some people do very minimal mileage in their vehicles. For example, a couple of journeys a week may total less than ten miles. Should these people be forced off the road, or forced to pay an extra £25.00 a week? Who, from the ordinary hard-pressed people has a spare £25.00 a week? Never mind if you have to use it every day.

£62.50 A Week? What if you do have use it every day, to go to work, or to run a child to school and back. And due to poor logistic management, school placement and child safety concerns, many people do. You'll be paying out £62.50 a week! Who, amongst the ordinary people has that kind of spare cash? If you want to then go shopping on Saturday and visit your family on Sunday, you'll be paying out a whacking £87.50.

Fifty Percent Tax! I, like many people, live inside the proposed expansion zone. If I want to go and do a gig, it would cost me £12.50 to get there. By the time I finish and pack up, it will be after midnight and so presumably I will have to pay another £12.50 to come home. A total of £25.00 from my wages. Working in a band in pubs, that could be HALF of your earnings.

Criminal Imposition! This criminal imposition could easily force break-even businesses out of business and people out of work!

My Own Personal Situation

Ceased Overnight: I work as an engineer and a musician. All of my work is related to music. My income, over the years, has been derived from doing pub gigs, giving guitar lessons, studio hire for rehearsal and repairing electronic music equipment - amps, processors and keyboards. With the advent of covid-19, all of this work ceased overnight.

Due to my somewhat meagre earnings over the years, the help I got from the government was also somewhat meagre. The way the scheme was constructed allowed me less than £900 to cover each three-month period. Luckily for me, as I house share with three other people and joined an equity release scheme to release money to pay the outstanding mortgage and other debts, we survived that period and have been ok. However, this is not true for everybody.

TfL were offering sole-traders and charities the chance to apply for a scrappage scheme, which I thought I would investigate. It was offering £5,000 to scrap my existing van. This was a reasonable amount, given that it would be hard to sell on around here now due to ULEZ. You had to meet the following criteria, and so I applied

TfL Requirements for Scrappage Scheme

• Proof of active business insurance or employers' liability insurance (active at point of application)
• Proof of self-employment from HMRC
• Proof of membership certificate from FSB or similar reputable trade or professional body.
• Proof of a business bank account
• Tax return (dated within the last three months)
• Letter from accountant or solicitor confirming sole trader status (dated within the last three months)

Literally spent hours and hours on the phone, over several phone calls, trying to get through to HMRC to trying and get some written confirmation of my self-employment status. Having eventually got through I did explain The first letter I received was a standard HMRC 'form sa302' for the previous year. A complete waste of time as it was for the previous year and would therefore not fit the 'less than three months old' criteria.

Government ineptitude at dealing with the fraud crisis, has done the people who can least afford it, no favours whatsoever. The government has a duty to protect people. However, as in many other area of significant government failure, they have let the people down.

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