Frankfurt to take 60,000 diesel vehicles off streets to meet EU emissions limits

MORE than 60,000 cars will be taken off the streets of Frankfurt next year in Germany’s toughest diesel ban yet.

Germany is struggling to meet European Union limits on city air pollution. Frankfurt has been ordered by a court to bar all but the newest diesel vehicles, despite opposition from local authorities, after a ruling this week.

More than two thirds of the city’s buses will be affected. The city has appealed to the federal government for financial help.

In the wake of the “dieselgate” emissions scandal, motoring organisations have accused the courts of making car owners pay for the sins of the industry.

Hamburg barred older diesel cars on two major roads this year, and Stuttgart is to implement a citywide ban in January. But the Frankfurt restrictions will be the most comprehensive yet.

From February, diesel vehicles not meeting 2009 EU emissions standards will be barred from almost the entire city. Only the airport and a few areas outside the ring road will be exempt.

Next September the restrictions will be toughened and applied to vehicles which fail the latest standards, imposed in 2014.

Motorists fear that their relatively new cars could fall in value by thousands of euros as a result.

Judge Rolf Hartmann, who ordered the ban, accused the state of failing to effectively reduce nitrogen dioxide emissions: “We have to understand that this is something that is endangering all of our health.”

German environmental groups, which have filed lawsuits over diesel pollution, welcomed the ruling.

Klaus Oesterling, head of Frankfurt council’s traffic department, said: “Citizens are being asked to pay for the failures not only of the car industry, but also of the federal government.”

Angela Merkel’s government has been accused of protecting German car makers at the expense of motorists. It has opposed calls to force companies to pay to retrofit vehicles affected by the dieselgate emissions-rigging affair.