Classic Car Buyer Magazine No.219 London Old Car Ban? Back Issue

It’s been a case of both good news and bad news for the classic car world this week. On the one hand, it’s been extremely encouraging to hear
what the Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs (FBHVC) has had to say at Club Expo – the annual meeting of minds for representatives of the various classic vehicle clubs around the UK – which was held earlier this month at the Heritage Motor Centre. One of the bigger news stories of last year was that within the next five years the classic vehicle restoration industry will need a further 1000 apprentices to ensure companies can continue to cater to the needs of the movement. This has resulted in a new officially-recognised and government-funded scheme being created, which the FBHVC is hoping to have up and running at
one college in time for September with, crucially, the promise of other
colleges offering further courses in the near future. The not so good news is this week’s headline news story; that the introduction of the proposed Ultra-Low Emissions Zone (ULEZ) within Central London, currently scheduled for 2020, would ban all pre-2005 built cars. On the one hand, because these proposals are at such an early phase, it’s tempting to simply ignore them – after all, when classic car business operating in Central London are responsible for so many jobs and have a proven positive effect on the economy, surely concessions will be put in
place that will allow classic cars to remain within the capital? A permit-based scheme, maybe? However, what speaking to the various wedding car hire firms, dealers, venue owners and event organisers has demonstrated is that if a blanket ban of ‘old’ cars were to be given the go ahead it would be crippling for the bottom line of these businesses.
What’s more, because the proposals amount to a ban on all cars over 15 years old, the ramifications extend far beyond our hobby.