Diesel is definitely a dirty word

So riding out today I was behind a diesel van pumping out a lot of fumes, it was only about 3 years old but was obviously badly maintained. It was a disgrace actually, impossible to ride behind. I thought the government were doing something about this, they made some noises a few months ago even a quotation from one of the front benchers saying something like 'think long and hard before choosing the fuel choice for your new car'. However nothing is being done as the government have to be careful about upsetting all the drivers they seduced into diesel a few years ago.

Those cars and even the newer ones are supposed to be the new generation of diesel, badged eco-flex, eco-blue and other such nonsense. They were fitted with diesel particulate filters which are supposed to remove all the nasties getting out of the exhaust system. The government didn't think people would start removing them instead of replacing them when they reached end of life but of course people will, why spend upwards of £750 when you can just take it off and still get through the MOT.

And then it turns out that even brand new cars with brand new DPFs were still not meeting legal emissions levels and had 'special' software installed to beat MOT testing.

And whilst other governments have acted against the companies behind this the UK government has done nothing to date despite ensuring the public that air quality is one of the highest priorities, which it should be as the poor air quality in our country is believed to be responsible for the premature deaths of around 40,000 people a year.

So we are currently waiting for the publication of the draft plan to tackle all this, a plan that keeps getting delayed and is now being pushed back again by the general election. Lets see if the government is serious about making our towns and cities nicer places to live and work in.