• WITH regard to the apparent proposal by Camden to increase the cost of residents’ parking permits for the owners of diesel cars, making them more expensive to own than petrol cars, the council should realise that such a simplistic change would be quite wrong morally as it would amount to a retrospective change.

And however easy it might be to implement, it would be quite unfair.

It is not many years since well-publicised government guidance told us diesel cars were less polluting than petrol ones because diesel engines discharged far less carbon dioxide and were more fuel efficient. (This is still largely true.) Many of those who responded to this evidence and switched to diesel at that time did so in the belief we were doing our bit to save the planet.

It is undeniable that the huge level of traffic in London is damaging the quality of air in our city, and current research does show diesel engines are more polluting than petrol engines because they emit more nitrogen oxide, sulphur dioxide and particles. But short of having a crystal ball, how were we diesel owners supposed to predict this when we switched in response the government’s environmental advice at the time? To penalise us now and simply make money out of the problem cannot be regarded as acceptable.

We all want cleaner air in our cities, and the council needs to ask itself what is a fair way of achieving this. The answer must surely lie in applying the proposal to future car purchases (new and used). After that, once people have been given the choice, it will be fair to penalise those who choose to act in a way that is not environmentally friendly.

Local and central government should be exerting far more pressure on motor manufacturers and oil companies to “clean up their act”, since we are told by scientists that both petrol and diesel can be reformulated to cut emissions.

PHILIP ALLEN
Leighton Grove, NW5