ULEZ: ‘Let’s move forward with a greener London. And let’s grant a two-day discount per month for vehicles registered with AutoPay’

• THE greenest ULEZ, ultra low emission zone, policy would be to give discounts for seldom-used cars: two drives per month: no charge, or at least a discount.

The greenest use for aging vehicles is to keep them on the road and drive them less. This is common sense, and verified science.

Of course, we need to discourage the daily drivers – of all vehicles. But what of the elderly person who uses a car twice a month for shopping and medical appointments?

What of the middle-aged Londoners who drive once a month to visit aging parents in rural areas? And what about the numerous camper vans used six times per year?

No, there is no car club solution for this in Zone 5, and very rarely a public transport option.

Those cheering the ULEZ expansion spout a false binary: either you’re for clean air, or you’re against it.

This is nonsense, extremist ideology reminiscent of United States Republicans and Conservatives who sacrifice our national infrastructure.

Ruling by ideology is wrong, whether it’s from the right or the left. Problem-solving is the grown-up way forward.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has shown himself quite good at problem-solving, with the exception of ULEZ.

He says that he would like to work toward pay-per-mile charging, but that we don’t yet have the technology. False.

ULEZ enforcement, like congestion charging, has a record of every day a vehicle registered for AutoPay drives in the zone.

It would be the simplest thing in the world to discount two days per month from charges.

It is not too late to introduce this discount, and it would eliminate a great deal of the political friction from the implementation of ULEZ.

This discount can move us toward a true green agenda before more good running vehicles are scrapped and replaced by environmentally costly new cars.

Let’s move forward with a greener London. And let’s grant a two-day discount per month for vehicles registered with AutoPay.

I have been suggesting this for four years now, and I’ve never had a reply from the ULEZ “consultation”.

BRYAN TORFEH, WC1