Heaven forbidhatch360 wrote:hehehe reading from ther top of this post I thought the infamous AMR had returned
Easy - the traffic wardens are enforcing it. Don't you just love 'empetefarrell360 wrote:So..... how can they ban cars of a certain age from entering cities, or requiring a cat?
Yesterday on the radio, they were following a traffic warden around Cologne. One of the cars they nabbed was a car registered in France. AFAIK the "points on your licence" scheme isn't universal in the EU, but fines are, so you'd be sent a bill. Since those stickers aren't available abroad, the same rule applies as to those cars without stickers. If you can prove you're theoretically within the emission limits, you're let off the hook, if not, you're fined.petefarrell360 wrote:Tom, how does this new rule affect foreign visitors, i.e. if I took my UK MOT'd 360 without cat over there and drove into the city? It doesn't need one in this country, (currently) but does there.
There are exemptions. If your car is an historic vehicle (an "H" in the licence plate, over 30 years old, in good condition) you can drive into these zones without a sticker. Although there are annoying sides to this too, commercial vehicles for example, can't get an "H" plate, and for some cars (like my Trabant) you wouldn't want one of these plates anyway as they're twice the cost of a regular registration, due to the tiny engine size.petefarrell360 wrote:As with all these things, it either affects the person who chooses to use an older car and is denied that right of freedom of choice, or hits the people worst off, who have no choice but to drive older cars that cost less in the first place.
I'll now climb down off of my soapbox, but soon you won't be able to drive anywhere, own, use, look at, appreciate, save, restore or buy a car over 10 years old! How are classics and historic vehicles that are part of history ever going to be preserved and saved, but also used. Not everyone wants to put them in a museum unused!
Pete
For diesel cars, these new rules really are restrictive. A red sticker (Euro 2 level diesels, like the mid-nineties VW TDIs) are only allowed in the OUTSKIRTS of Cologne. If you want to get into the centre of the city with your diesel, you need a green sticker, which is only given out to the most modern diesels with a particle filter. And there aren't many of those about yet ...
I agree with some parts of that new law. I've been stuck behind relatively modern TDIs before, belching out clouds of smoke. But it's not really fair on the petrol cars, which barely emit any particulates at all. The amount of petrol cars without cats these days are so few anyway, that it barely makes a difference in the greater scheme of things.
Tom