On February 4, 2008, LEZ - Low Emission Zone - comes into force right across Greater London (except for the M25). And it will be a severe blow for owners of diesel-engined lorries, buses, horse boxes, fire engines, vans over 1.2 tonnes ULW and many other vehicles, though the extent of it will be phased in over several years - big trucks first, then buses over five tonnes and other vehicles over 3.5 tonnes from July 7, then from October 2010 it will cover smaller vehicles as above.

And this is not a charge of a few pounds - it is 200 pound a day for larger vehicles, 100 pound a day for the smaller ones. It's basically designed to get them modified to be more environmentally friendly or put off the road.

Thankfully pre-1973 vehicles are NOT affected - that is the entirely arbitrary date that our leaders deem to be the cut-off after which vehicles are not 'historic' - but we should not accept this 'concession' so tamely: this government has a clear agenda to discriminate against all post-1972 vehicles that are not new or nearly new and it is time the historic vehicle movement stood up and fought this arrogant dictat.

The government's website for all this, www.tfl.gov.uk/roadusers/lez is staggeringly glib and sanctimonious about the whole thing, simply suggesting that if your vehicle doesn't comply you should "replace your vehicle with a newer vehicle which meets the LEZ emissions standards". It will be operated by fixed and mobile cameras checking your registration number against a database of registered vehicles.

That's all very fine if you're DVLA registered - but overseas-registered vehicles must register in advance with TfL (Transport for London) to avoid the charge - and the same applies to vehicles that DVLA's database will show as not complying, but which have been modified so that they do comply. Fitting particulate traps is the least costly solution (fitting a later engine is another option) but you will need evidence to convince TfL that you've carried out a permanent improvement before they will add you to the Register.

While the government takes with one hand, Ken Livingstone grabs with the other and from early 2008, the London Congestion Charge (07.00-18.00 Monday-Friday) is proposed to leap from 8 pound to 25 pound  for high polluting cars, including all type approved pre-March 2001 cars with engines over 3000cc: another arbitrary figure that bears little relation to their actual emissions, number of passengers carried, actual mileage etc.

Again, it'll not be fought because those cars the government deems to be historic will not be affected. It's not quite the 1973 date again, but type approval began in the mid-1970s and if it's not type approved, it's not affected - for now.

Malcolm McKay, Motorbase News Editor