Petrol and diesel cars are banned from east London roads to tackle toxic air

Petrol and diesel cars will be banned from nine roads in east London in a bid to tackle toxic air.

Drivers will receive a £130 penalty if they use anything other than electric or hybrid models in areas of Hackney and Islington between 7am-10am and 4pm-7pm on weekdays.

The measures, to be introduced on September 3, are the toughest restrictions yet on polluting vehicles in the capital.

Mayor Sadiq Khan’s central London “toxicity charge” for drivers of older petrol and diesel vehicles is currently £10 per day.

The affected roads under the new scheme are Blackall Street, Cowper Street, Paul Street, Tabernacle Street, Ravey Street, Singer Street, Willow Street, Charlotte Road and Rivington Street.

Islington Green Party councillor and London Assembly member Caroline Russell said: “Islington and Hackney have seized the opportunity to give people a really strong message about taking pollution seriously and to show the scale of London’s health emergency.”

The City of London Corporation will launch a similar trial in April, limiting access to Moor Lane, near Moorgate, to ultra-low emission vehicles.

It came as a new medical report said Londoners could live longer if toxic air is slashed.

The EU legal limit for nitrogen dioxide is an annual average of 40 micrograms per cubic metre of air but this was breached at more than 50 monitoring sites in London last year.

In a new report today, the Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants found that for every microgram per metre cubed reduction in NO2, around 420,000 to 903,000 life years could be saved over the next 106 years.

This equates to an average increase in life expectancy of between two and five days for each microgram per metre cubed — or several weeks for a significant drop in pollution.