http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/oldcars/

Whats that about? There isn't any restrictions on old cars is there?

Up here there is a natural process to the destruction of cars, rust.

I'll sign up if Tony is going to help stop the rust!

It is environmentally more sound to drive (and maintain) an old car than to scrap it and buy a new one. Making a new car produces more pollution than 40 years of driving it. Extending the life of a car is an ecological sound thing to do.

New cars meet tighter limits on the percentage of certain toxins in the exhaust gasses but the total volume of exhaust gas hasn't changed by much over several years. New cars are not the paragons of virtue that some would have you believe.

Some head-in-the-sand type environmentallists say that cars should be scrapped when they get to 10 years old. That is the kind of unresearched ignorance that gives environmentalists a bad name. Promoting the use of old cars is therefore a good thing, except that this patition doesn't explain that.

I think any car over the age of 20 should pay no tax at all and those over 10 years should pay half.

We have a through away culture and scrap cars are just another form of waste.

If we bring the government's attention to the use of old cars everyone will jump on the band wagon and old classics will be subject to the same taxes and restrictions currently imposed on newer vehicles. Best keep quiet, otherwise some "no good-interfering-do gooder-know nothing" prat of a government minister will start calling for a ban on old vehicles due to emmissions and safety!

Thats exactly what happend.

We campaigned to move the Free road tax on cars built before 1937 (I think) to a 25 year rolling date so as new classic cars fell into that bracket they would be tax Exempt.

We got that fixed. Best thing the Tories ever did.

Labour won the next election, and in their very first budget, changed it from a rolling date to a fixed date again. Anything BUILT one or before 31 Dec 1972 would be tax Exempt. Thats Built, and not registered.
Good 'ol Tony... Some Say...

My old Landrover missed it by 5 months grrr.

They will more likley do it with stricter MoT's and the like.
it just P**ses me off big time.

Halleluja Geoff! Don't give the barstewards any more ammo!