It’s not just motorists who have to clean up their act
WHY are diesel car owners being blamed for urban nitrogen dioxide pollution? The vast majority of drivers bought their diesel cars within the past decade. Their vehicles have modern engines that are subject to annual emission tests to ensure they are within government standards. My Ford Fiesta diesel produces emissions below the 120g carbon dioxide level that qualifies for low road tax. Car parking and the London congestion charge makes driving any private car problematic and expensive. Commercial vehicles, public transport, delivery vehicles, aircraft and construction plant all use diesel fuel. There has been little attempt to control these diesel users, nor to bring them within the so-called Clean Air Strategy. Politicians need to clean up their act before lecturing ordinary drivers on environmental issues. JAMES ROBERT-POULAIN,
Bexhill-on-Sea, e. Sussex. THE news that new petrol and diesel cars will be banned from 2040 (Mail) is what conservationists have waited decades to hear. But welcome as this news is, it is only part of the problem to be solved. Pollution and the threat to health and the natural environment is the cost of so-called progress and unrestrained development. We need to take steps to eradicate all pollution from our precious natural environment. Once wrecked, it can never be repaired.
DAVID HARVEY, Chippenham, Wilts.