A word from Sir Greg Knight

We also approached Sir Greg Knight MP, chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Historic Vehicles Group. ‘Historic vehicle owners need not be queuing up to sell their pride and joy,’ he said. ‘I regard the Government announcement as an ambitious aspiration which may or may not be delivered in the timescale mentioned – and more likely not.

‘Whilst it is admirable to pursue the aim of seeing only zero-pollution vehicles on our roads, it is necessary to also take along public opinion. Any democratic Government that gets too far ahead of public opinion becomes a missionary at its own risk.

‘Even if new petrol cars are banned from being sold from 2040, it would be at least another 15 years before they could be phased out and then only if that was acceptable to the public. Any Party that proposes a ban without public support is, quite frankly, doomed to serve only in opposition.

‘Classic and historic cars only make up approximately 0.7% of all registered vehicles, so their contribution to air pollution is barely measurable. I would therefore expect any Government to exempt them from a blanket ban on the use of petrol or diesel vehicles.

‘This announcement should not have any effect on the value of historic vehicles in the short or medium term and in the long term may actually increase the value of those historic vehicles that are then still in existence.’