As a long term member, ( around 20 years I think) I would like to ask if the club, with all if its very intelligent people, could do something different for the members, here goes
some years back it was mooted that a charge or levy would be placed on stinky smelly vehicles entering the City of London, for myself I could not find fault with it, I often visit the City on family business, but having 5 seats in my car, I find it pointless driving into London with only the drivers seat occupied ( unlike the Range Rover set)
I usually drove down in winter, or rode the Guzzi and left it at my parents house, then caught the train in
later on the emissions area was extended, again no bother for me as I avoided it
however when Mayor Khan increased this area to cover the suburbs, and then reduced the overall speed limit to 20MPH I was a trifle vexed
so I contacted TFL , sent them copies of articles stating that my 2003 Breva was Euro 3 compliant, and sent photos of the catalytic converter and its markings
they could not have been less interested !
they told me to either ride into London paying 15 quid for the privilege and pay a specialist test centre 200 pounds to supply a certificate, or pay a similar sum to Piaggio for a certificate
awesome
now if I had a 2007 model it would be no problem, even though its the same machine
the cost is now 25 pounds a day, so frankly they can stick it where the sun dont shine, and I will take my stinky high mileage diesel car, and do battle with the SUV brigade instead, plus I can take a family member along for the trip ( it averages 70mpg anyway)
in the area that my parents live in, their were a great many quality , but older well maintained cars, that were parked all week, and just used at weekends, one of my friends has a lovely old Porsche, he commutes to the City on a bicycle, or the train in bad weather, he was most annoyed to find that if he drove along the road it was going to cost him 15, now 25 quid, and at 20MPH
a Porsche is not very efficient at that speed, and needs to be revved hard
oddly he took it to his specialist, and they tested the emissions and found it was well below the limits imposed by TFL
so it went to a specialist test centre and passed, and now he drives it much more often to stick two fingers up at the mayor
ps Mayor Khan is driven around with two armed bodyguards, in a 5 tonne bulletproof Range Rover Sentinel 5 litre with bullet proof doors and glass , and floor, and air supply system
I wonder what the fuel consumption is on that tank
and costing 300K
Pot Kettle Black
So how about the club making some representation to the goons at TFL , and getting all of the Euro 3 registered machines put on the system, after all if one is done, why does this not apply to every other model in the range
The Italians were very organised in making sure that from the Millenium all vehicles were Euro 3 compliant, and all the smelly old heaps were taken off the road, or rebuilt to a high standard and fitted with a certificate to indicate the work
I am aware that a few people have removed their Catalytic converters, so they should be excluded
TFL is a vast money making concern, and has done little to reduce emissions in London, a few weeks ago I visited and used the early morning coach, and the vast majority of vehicles on the road, had one person in them, and seemed to be fitted with large engines as well
It would be nice to be able to visit my elderly father and cut through the endless lines of SUVs and 4 WDs and big High end cars taking up the roads
So can the club Hierarchy organise something, perhaps with the assistance of Piaggio
Before purchasing the Breva, I had owned an older well maintained BMW R80RT, partly for sentimental reasons I decided to sell it, and looked at buying a Neuvo Falcone from the vast fleet that was being released from storage, but decided that for reliability and emissions Euro 3 compliant would be better
had i have kept the R80, or purchased the Falcone, I could have ridden through London without a problem !!!
