My dad is poor and must drive an hour to work because he can't afford to live in the city. When he last brought a car he stupidly listened to the government recommendation at the time and brought an extremely economical diesel car because he understood this was good for the environment, and my dad was a long-time green voter.
For the last couple of years since the low emission zone was implemented he's had to take a 30 min detour to get to work meaning it's taking him 1.30 hours to get to work adding an hour to his total daily commute and 50% to his weekly fuel bill and increasing his emissions by 50%. While he could just about afford getting a petrol car, this isn't exactly a cheap purchase for someone who only makes £25,000...
This isn't some media conspiracy. It's been making my dad's life hell for the last two years now. My understanding is that working class people who use vans for work are also getting screwed by this.
If you want to reduce the number of polluting vehicles in the city then ban non-essential cars, buses, vans and lorries. Creating a charge just means that if you're rich enough to not care you'll continue as is and if you're poor you'll get screwed and be forced to change habits.
I'm not suggesting we shouldn't prioritise clean air, I'm suggesting that we should do so in a fair way. I don't understand why anything I'm saying is controversial or why I'm being gas lit about this being a media conspiracy. Perhaps it's you who is out of touch?
ULEZ is not popular. People here are likely out of touch: https://yougov.co.uk/politics/articles/46024-londoners-split...