Just a note of warning for anyone with a van in the London area (or who travels occasionally to the London area). On Monday, the new Low Emission Zone (LEZ) comes into force - another one of Ken Livingstone's insane ideas. Any vehicle which doesn't comply with Transport For London's emission regulations will have to pay a huge daily charge (congestion charge on steroids). It is being "phased in" so we won't have to pay on our Iveco until October 2010. From that point on we have a chooice - either pay £100 per day for driving in the LEZ (can't really avoid it as we live in it!") - or pay up to £4000 to have the van modified (by 2010 it won't be worth £4000).
It's not just about those of us with dog vans, this measure will destroy thousands of small businesses throughout Greater London who rely on their old "white vans" for transport. Watch and wait while every single thing we buy in London, whether a service or a product, becomes significantly more expensive as companies have to add on the extraordinary cost of this new charge (or completely renew their transport fleet). It also includes fire engines????? and other public service vehicles. This is the most appalling example of stupid "green" gesture politics we have yet seen. Good job the Mayoral election is coming up - Ken even makes Boris Johnson look sensible!
PS - don't think, "Oh, that just affects London"- if Ken gets away with it, other councils are sure to follow!
Terry

From what I heard on Jeremy Vine at lunchtime, it is lorries this is being phased in on not vans yet.

Yes but some vans are being phased in from 2010....

But that's not Monday!  ;-)

The op says that vans are being phased in from 2010 and not Monday but I can see where she is coming from.....I drive a van but luckily the only time I have to go into London with it is for D.Dogs...lol...But for people who will live in the zone its gonna be a nightmare..They havent said yet what vans will be penalised, but I like a lot of people would not be able to change my van......are they also penalising some of the 4x4's as some of their emissions are terrible.....They say cars are OK but what about some of the oldies you see being driven that pump black smoke out of the back, yet they are going to get away with it......