Dear LPG,

I think that most people will know someone who has had to give up a car because of the new gas emission charges, and there will be many who have spent time commiserating with the ex-owner of a much beloved car even if they have never sat behind the wheel themselves.  I would think that this is probably as close as this new law has come to affecting us non drivers so far, but it might affect you indirectly even if you are a non-driver.

I have now learnt that I live just beyond the so called ULEZ which is good I suppose, but as slowly as I walk it only takes me seven minutes to see a sign showing the border cross-over point.  It occurs to me that, provided our celebrations are allowed to go ahead, there will be members of my family who only ever come close enough to London to visit me and they will have to get really near to the ULEZ border to make that ‘once a year’ visit that so many of us will have been waiting two years for now.  

I am very worried that they might enter the zone even if they don’t have to and cause themselves the need to give the government an extra Christmas present and talking to one family member the other day confirmed my fears. 

My son phoned recently and, during our conversation the subject was broached.  He told me that when you only visit a couple of times a year you don’t really remember the finer details of the way and, though I have never driven a car, I have been driven to places where the Sat-nav, or geographical mobile phone app and the driver end up with a discrepancy that causes the electronic element to ping or announce its need to ‘recalculate’.  A couple of wrong turns go with the territory of getting where you want to go using technology from what I have observed.  But l have just realised that, from where I live, getting it wrong could add £12.50 to the cost of just popping in to say hello.

Then there is the other dilemma, perhaps it is worth paying in advance just in case.  My children will most probably do that but I think that if they then don’t get it wrong, we are talking about yet another Christmas present for the government. 

I looked on-line and found a few bits of information that might help you to persuade those more reluctant members of your family that Christmas is worth the risk. 

Apparently, Google Maps and a few other telephone path-finding apps can help if you set a plan and get your route right, if you do pay in advance but avoid the zone, getting a refund will cost you a big chunk of the charge in administration fees, although amending the charge to pay for another vehicle or date is an option.  

I can’t say that I understand all that I have read but it might just make enough sense to some of those visitors who normally drive when they visit to not put them off altogether.

ND, Lee

ND shares her findings…

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