New tax costing YOU up to £2,500 per year is coming TOMORROW: here’s what you need to know

Tomorrow the toxin car tax called the T-Charge will be introduced into the UK in London in a bid to reduce air pollution in the Capital. 

Motorists in Britain using the congestion charge zone in London may have to pay a daily toxic T-Charge if they fail to be within the emissions standard and terms of the new scheme.

The tax is being introduced by London Mayor Sadiq Khan in a bid to reduce the dangerous levels of air pollution in the Capital city. 

Ahead of the T-Charge launch the Mayor revealed that every Londoner is exposed to illegal levels of PM2.5 which particulate air pollution and can penetrate the heart and lungs. 

Around 7.9 million of people in London, roughly 95 per cent of the population, are also exposed to levels of PM2.5 which exceeded to World Health Organisation’s guidelines by 50 per cent or more. 

This type of air pollution is thought to cause around 29,000 premature deaths every year in Britain. 

It is caused by tyre and brake wear and can lead to respiratory issues. 

Nitrogen oxides (NOX) is another pollutant that is emitted by vehicles while driving which can also affect the heart, lungs and breathing. 

It is present in high quantities in dieselcars, which is one of the reasons these vehicles have been vilified over the past year. 

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said to Express.co.uk: “I am taking a bold approach to tackling the capital’s toxic air with a package of hard-hitting measures to drive down emissions. 

“I am introducing the new T-Charge in central London on 23 October to help remove older, more polluting vehicles from our streets, which is a step towards the world’s first Ultra Low Emission Zone, with far stricter emission standards for all vehicles. I

“I am pushing the timeframe boundaries to their limits because our city’s filthy air is a public health emergency, and that’s why I am bringing the ULEZ forward a year early to April 2019 and consulting Londoners on extending it to outer London for buses, coaches and lorries by 2020.

“I have also doubled spending on tackling air quality to £875 million – a record figure for City Hall – and I have also prioritised cleaning up London’s taxi and bus fleets. 

“This includes a commitment to ensure there will be no new diesel taxis licensed in London by the end of this year and I launched a £42m fund to help cabbies ditch the dirtiest and polluting vehicles.

“I am doing absolutely everything I can with the powers I have at City Hall, but the government must finally step up and match my ambition by bringing forward a new Clean Air Act fit for the 21st Century and introduce a diesel scrappage fund to help those Londoners who bought vehicles in good faith from advice they were given.”

Council bosses believe that if more toxin taxes or restrictions on highly polluting vehicles are introduced in the UK there could be a 50 per cent reduction in emissions by 2020. 

Around 30 cities and towns could be targeted with emissions reduction schemes including  Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield, Newcastle, Bristol and Leicester.

The main areas of scrutiny however are Southampton, Nottingham, Derby, Birmingham and Leeds.

Cars that do not meet Euro 4 emissions  standard – which is car manufactured before 2006 – will be required to pay the £10 daily toxin tax on top of the £11.50 congestion charge fee. 

Motorists who do not qualify for the emissions standard will have to pay up to £2,490 per year.

The T-Charge is effective Monday to Friday between the hours of 7am and 6pm Monday to Friday. 

Weekends, Bank Holidays and period between Christmas and New Year is also exempt from the charge.

Drivers who are caught not paying the toxin tax fee will be fined £160 – which will be reduced to £65 if it is paid within 14 days. 

You can use the toxin tax checker on the TfL website to see if your car will be affected. 

Monday will see the introduction of the new Toxicity or T-Charge, which will impose an emissions surcharge on certain vehicles entering the Congestion Charge Zone.

ClientEarth spokesperson Simon Alcock said: “The T-Charge is absolutely essential to protect human health in the short-term and pave the way for the Mayor’s expanded ULEZ but needs to go further and be applied to more diesel vehicles. 

“Londoners breathe toxic air every day and this has a terrible effect on their health. Children in London are particularly vulnerable, as the air pollution can stunt their lung growth.

“So the charge needs to be part of a much bigger package of measures to urgently bring down air pollution.

“The Mayor is moving towards this but there are big policy levers that only the UK government can pull and ministers need to deal with dirty diesels through the tax system and, with the motor industry, provide help for people who bought diesel cars in good faith to move to cleaner forms of transport.”