Andrew Dismore

Almost a third of cars owned in Barnet and Camden are run on diesel, new analysis shows. This comes despite serious health warnings about the risks of cancer and air pollution. This week, hundreds of doctors, nurses, and other health professionals wrote to the Prime Minister urging the government to remove diesel vehicles as soon as possible as they are causing a “health emergency.”

Local Labour Assembly Member Andrew Dismore, who analysed the levels of diesel cars in Barnet and Camden, has backed the Mayor of London’s recent call for a diesel scrappage scheme and urged the government to act quickly.   

Department for Transport figures show that of the 189,867 cars in Barnet and Camden, 56,880 or 30% are run on diesel.

 

Local Labour London Assembly Member, Andrew Dismore AM, said:

“Having almost 60,000 diesel cars on Barnet and Camden roads undoubtedly poses a significant risk to the health of residents.

“Many car owners will have bought diesel cars in good faith, when the evidence suggested diesel cars were better for the environment. With more recent evidence showing diesel to have numerous public health risks it’s only right that we do everything possible to reduce the number of these cars on our roads.

“I welcome the Mayor’s call to introduce a scrappage scheme with compensation for vehicle owners who trade in their diesels, and I urge the government to act quickly. This is a serious health risk which demands a serious – and timely – response.”

 

 

In 2012, the World Health Organisation classified diesel exhaust as a ‘definite carcinogen’. This was followed by a 2014 report from Transport for London (TfL) which cited that the growing popularity of diesel was a contributing factor in London’s failure to comply with EU air pollution limits. Warnings also came that year from Dr Frank Kelly, Professor of Environmental Health at King’s College London, that some diesel emissions, such as black carbon, can have a “much bigger health impact” than other pollutants.

 

Earlier this week, the campaign group ‘Doctors against Diesel’ said the vehicles could cause “irreversible lung damage” to children, and pointed out that the government’s own chief medical officer has said diesel vehicles should be phased out. The letter, which was sent to the Prime Minister, was signed by professors of paediatrics and public health from universities including the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Queen Mary, and the Faculty of Public Health.

 

This week the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, announced he has put proposals to the government for a national ‘dirty’ diesel scrappage fund to compensate financially low income motorists changing their cars to a cleaner model.  Such a scheme will contribute to tackling the capital’s toxic air.