High price to breathe clean air

SIR, – I read the London mayor proposes charging some diesel vehicle users as well as older model petrol car users £10 per day to drive in the city.

If this catches on then other cities with the vehicle ID camera system will copycat for a welcome new revenue stream.

Defending the charge on health grounds is a no-brainer as many studies have proved human health and planet Earth are suffering due to toxins and carbon dioxide emissions from vehicles (P&J, February 16).

City councils with spare cash can invest in a vehicle recognition system and sit back watching the cash roll in, but possibly Aberdeen and Inverness city motorists will be safe for the time being as both councils are skint.

It is galling that expert advice doled out since the 1970s encouraged the use of diesel engines on environmental grounds but today the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders state that 9million UK vehicles do not meet Euro 4 standards on emissions.

Our future transport systems and journey-making needs addressing and fancy street camera systems are no substitute for getting electric vehicles and support systems incentivised by government.

I suggest recovering the profits from exporting our excess electricity and by imposing a windfall tax on the Big Six energy companies who benefit from low oil prices and government feedin tariffs for turbines, to be diverted to a new-age transport scheme.

The word on the street is clean air is a basic right, the drawback is it won't come cheap. Angus McNair, Farnachty,

Clochan, Buckie