SIR GREG KNIGHT: CLASSICS ‘A BLIP’ ON ENVIRONMENT
MP backs classic owners in resisting regulations that hurt our hobby
The classic world’s top voice in Westminster has said that classics represent ‘ barely a blip’ in Britain’s emissions, and should be protected from future environmental legislation.
Sir Greg Knight MP, chair of the All Party Parliamentary Historic Vehicle Group (APPHVG), vowed that classics should continue to be used on the nation’s roads due to their minimal impact on the environment.
He said: ‘Although there is no immediate specific threat to the hobby we all love, we do need to highlight the fact that the contribution of historic vehicles to pollution is so small it is almost immeasurable.
‘The total use of all private motor cars accounts for less than 14 per cent of all global fossil fuel emissions and is likely to fall as more electric vehicles come into use. Within that figure, classic cars are barely a blip on the scale. There are no proposals currently before Parliament to restrict the future use of historic vehicles, nor should there be. These vehicles only account for 0.6 per cent of the total number of cars on our roads and are part of our heritage, which should continue to be seen and used.’
Sir Greg Knight’s comments come after the Federation of British Historic Vechicle Club’s inaugural environment director Peter Spours called for more to be done to make classic use carbon neutral.
At the federation’s AGM, ( CCW, 7 October), Peter said: ‘The world is changing quickly and the importance of environmental protection is becoming clear – we cannot ignore these calls. To date, we would accept that we’ve used our internal combustion-engined vehicles as a right, with certain derogations to allow us to do that, but we’re probably moving towards a world where their use will be by public consent, and we need to steer public opinion towards the use of our historic vehicles on the road by positioning them as being historically important and valuable to the public.’
A number of environmental policies could inform ‘public consent’ regarding the continued use of historic vehicles, including postponed clean air and ultralow emissions zones. The United Nations Environment Programme recently called for a curb on the export of vehicles to countries with less strict standards and suggested age limits instead, which could have an impact on historic vehicle usage.
CCW readers have also called for more to be done to protect classics from future legislation.
Steve Allen, from Northants, said: ‘ We need to major on the fact that in environmental terms their impact is negligible as the number of miles driven in our vehicles is almost immeasurable as a percentage of total miles driven. Add to this the fact that a car consumes more energy and has a greater environmental impact during its manufacture than in its lifetime of usage, and you make a strong case for our vehicles being the most environmentally friendly in use.
‘The current fashion is to give in at the first sign of criticism and rewrite history to suit. This must not happen to us.’
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