Air pollution in London is getting worse and instead of finding solutions we're trying to fill up the coffers once again.
Setting the scene for asking Londoners to put their hands in their pockets again it's not enough to have an unfair congestion charge, now they want to add this...to cars from 2005 and older.
If you have such a car, logic dictates that it may be because you don't have the funds to upgrade, there are exceptions of course.
Already congestion charge is burning a whole in many families' finances. Every year it goes up unlike salaries and even if you live in the zone you have to pay it. This new tax would mean that someone traveling by car to Central London will have to pay £22.50, even if he/she is only going through the city to reach their destination.
Just like the congestion charge tax, his tax is not fair. If I don't pay my congestion charge, I will be penalised. In the meantime, many embassies and government agencies owe vast sums that they do not intend to pay and nothing happens to them.
So instead of asking people who do not have money to part with what they don't have, we should try and find ways to get people to transition to cleaner energy and products and make sure their carbon footprint is as low as possible without costing them anything. Certainly something that Shop 2 Save the Planet www.shop2savetheplanet.com is doing providing carbon offset to UK residents for free.
It would make more sense to let people who are buying properties with a mortgage borrow more so they can buy an electric car with the extra money. Or get car manufacturers to part exchange old cars for a good discount on electric car. Shop 2 Save the Planet do not have car manufacturers or dealers amongst their partners but I'm sure they would be happy to partner with them so that each time someone buys an electric car they give them free carbon offsets.
We are in this together and only together will we find solutions, individuals, corporations, governments. It is time to give back to people who are making the country what it is and make sure their health or livelihoods are not jeopardised by greed and the search of power.
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