Petrol, diesel cars to be banned from east London roads to tackle toxic air

LONDON - Petrol and diesel cars will be banned from nine roads in east London in early September in the toughest restrictions yet to tackle toxic air in the British capital.

Drivers will receive a penalty of 130 pounds (some $168) if they use anything other than electric or hybrid models in areas of Hackney and Islington between 7 am - 10 am and 4 pm- 7 pm on weekdays.

The measures, to be introduced on Sept 3, are the toughest restrictions yet on polluting vehicles in the British capital.

Mayor Sadiq Khan's central London "toxicity charge" for drivers of older petrol and diesel vehicles is currently 10 pounds (some $13) per day.

The affected roads under the new scheme are Blackall Street, Cowper Street, Paul Street, Tabernacle Street, Ravey Street, Singer Street, Willow Street, Charlotte Road and Rivington Street.

Caroline Russell, Islington Green Party councilor and London Assembly member, said, "Islington and Hackney have seized the opportunity to give people a really strong message about taking pollution seriously and to show the scale of London's health emergency."

The City of London Corporation will launch a similar trial in April, limiting access to Moor Lane, near Moorgate, to ultra-low emission vehicles.

It came as a new medical report said Londoners could live longer if toxic air is slashed.

The European Union legal limit for nitrogen dioxide is an annual average of 40 micrograms per cubic meter of air but this was breached at more than 50 monitoring sites in London last year.

In a new report issued on Wednesday, the Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants found that for every microgram per meter cubed reduction in NO2, around 420,000 to 903,000 life years could be saved over the next 106 years.

This equates to an average increase in life expectancy of between two and five days for each microgram per meter cubed, or several weeks for a significant drop in pollution, said the report.