Pollutants from cars and vans cost NHS £6bn a year

POLLUTION from cars and vans costs the NHS £6 billion each year, with the worst impact from diesel vehicles, a study said yesterday.

The average car in inner London over its lifetime on the road added to the health service’s costs by £7,714, researchers at the universities of Oxford and Bath found.

For diesel cars the impact from nitrogen dioxide and tiny particles which can harm health is as high as £16,424, the report released ahead of Clean Air Day on June 21 found.

The health damage from diesel vehicles is about five times higher than petrol vehicles and 20 times greater than for electric vehicles.

If every new car in 2019 were electric, it would save more than £325million in health costs in the first year, according to environmental charity Global Action Plan which organises Clean Air Day.

Air pollution is linked to about 40,000 premature deaths a year, compared with 98,000 attributable to smoking, the report said.

Nearly 90 per cent of all the health costs associated with pollution from cars and vans are down to diesel vehicles.

Nationally, over 14 years the average car amounts to £1,640 in its toll on health while a van costs £5,107 over nine years.

Dr Christian Brand, from the University of Oxford, said: “Cars and vans are responsible for 10,000 early deaths each year and diesel vehicles are the main problem unfortunately.

“Our research for the first time illustrates the individual cost that each car and van has on the NHS and wider society.

“Every time these vehicles are driven, they are having a significant impact on our health.”

He said that diesel engines were five times worse than petrol ones and about 20 times greater than electric vehicles.

London tops the league of worst UK cities for the costs to the NHS from cars and vans, totalling £605 million, while Birmingham’s vehicles cost about £150 million.