NATIONAL

 Taxis (black taxis and private hire vehicles) can be an important source of road transport air pollution and CO2 emissions in cities. With the increasing pressure of improving local air quality and the establishment of Clean Air Zones, and the London Ultra Low Emission Zone, taxi operators will need to evaluate the suitability of their current vehicle(s) with regards to achieving mandatory vehicle emission standards. There are a range of fuel and technology options a taxi operator can choose in terms of shifting to a cleaner fleet, taking into account reducing NOx and PM emissions in conjunction with GHG emissions.

LowCVP have previously produced a Low Emission Bus Guide (2016) and a Low Emission Van Guide (2015) to help operators understand the suitability of different low emission technologies and fuels for their particular fleet operations. We have undertaken research over the last three years which has identified the important role that independent, informative and assessable information has in influencing the take up of low emission vehicles.

https://goo.gl/78orVQ 
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 MANCHESTER

 Proposals to charge drivers of diesel cars, taxis and HGVs in Manchester city centre will no doubt prompt an almighty backlash from many motorists.

Following a promise from the mayor not to charge individuals and the memorable vote against a congestion charge, any scheme to tackle pollution involving payments from specific drivers would be a controversial move.

So, are pollution levels really that bad in Greater Manchester?

According to scientists at Manchester University, levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and PM10s – the most noxious pollutants coughed out in exhaust fumes – contribute to at least 2,000 premature deaths in the region every year.

They are a major cause of bronchitis, asthma, heart problems and cancer. And the resulting sickness in the work place is predicted to cost the economy £20bn by 2020.

Perhaps more persuasive, though, is the damage to the children whose futures are at risk.

Across Greater Manchester, in every authority, they are breathing in dangerous fumes each day on their walk to school and during their breaks in the playground.

Many of these schools were built by our Victorian ancestors in a time when being on a main thoroughfare was only an advantage. But now those same buildings are flanked by congested roads.

At St Ambrose RC Primary on Princess Parkway, pollution levels are so bad that teachers can no longer open windows in the classroom. Teachers and children say they can taste the metallic tang of toxicity on their lips at the end of the day.

Headteacher Ruth Vayro watches in despair as traffic flows past, filthy fumes emerging from giant HGVs and diesel buses heading into town, right to Didsbury and left to Chorlton.

She's so concerned she invited scientists to test the air – and pollution levels were found to be six times above the legal EU limit.

She said: “Before then we knew it was bad – because we could taste it. On warm days it's the worst. It tastes and smells like metal. But we hadn't realise it was that bad.

“Now we can't open the windows, we can't take that risk. We have to have air conditioning all year round. The terrible irony is that air con is contributing to pollution levels.

“There are many many schools like this in Greater Manchester – they are just not all speaking out about it.”

She added: “It has a proven impact on children's long-term health. It worries me that nothing is being urgently done about it.

“Parents are walking their children to school and worrying about what they are exposed to, especially when they have asthma.”

Ruth, the schoolchildren and their parents are campaigning for more to be done. Councillors and MPs, as well as mayor Andy Burnham, have visited the school.

The children have been writing letters to politicians, pleading with them to take action.

“We are teaching our children to use their voices – to flex their very small muscles.”

In Greater Manchester, road transport contributes 75pc of emissions of nitrogen oxides and 81pc of particulates. It also accounts for 32pc of carbon dioxide emissions.

Pollution is a problem not unique to Manchester – but as other cities take action, the region runs the risk of being left behind.

It comes as the death of a nine-year-old girl from an asthma attack has been linked to high levels of air pollution.

Ella Kissi-Debrah lived 80ft from London's South Circular Road – notorious for pollution. She suffered three years of seizures and hospital stays before her death in February 2013. During that time, local air pollution levels breached EU legal limits.

According to a report from an asthma specialist, her hospital admissions coincided with spikes in nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and PM10s – the most noxious pollutants.

It's the first time an individual's death has been directly linked to air pollution.

The evidence will be submitted in an appeal to the attorney general to re-open an inquest in to Ella's death.

Professor Hugh Coe measuring pollution/particulate levels. (Image: Manchester Evening News)

Last year, the Manchester Evening News teamed up with the University of Manchester to take pollution readings around Upper Brook Street and Oxford Road.

We recorded the levels of particulate - tiny particles belched from exhausts, or the fragments of road dust churned up by tyres.

Results at two locations - outside a school and at a junction near both the hospitals and the university - exceeded those recommended by the EU.

Prof Hugh Coe, head of school of Atmospheric Composition at the University of Manchester, said today: “It's without doubt one of the biggest public health problems facing Greater Manchester today.

“We need to do something. We've got a generation of young people who are being exposed to high levels of pollution unless we do something about it now.”

Warning of increasing links between pollution and cognitive function in the very young, as well as Alzheimer's and other degenerative diseases, he added: “This is on top of the more recognised issues of lung performance, asthma and so on.”

“The body of evidence mounts every day. Small children are a group at risk. They are undergoing rapid development, add a stresser like air pollution into the mix of changing brain function and physiology and it's a big risk.

"Kids in playgrounds next to roads are suffering chronic exposure. In Greater Manchester, it's impossible to keep children away from those environments.”

The key then, lies in changing the conditions our children are living in.

As Ruth, headteacher of St Ambrose, says: “We love our city, Manchester is vibrant, fabulous, up and coming. But we have to clean it up.

“We really need politicians to take action to make Manchester a cleaner and healthier place for our children.

“To be classed as one of the dirtiest cities in Europe is just appalling.”



Source= MEN
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OXFORD

THE secretary of a taxi drivers’ association in Oxford said new arrangements have been made following the introduction of a taxi-hailing app in the city.

Last month the rapidly expanding mytaxi service picked Oxford as its latest launch destination.

Mytaxi works with existing black cab drivers to provide pick-ups within five minutes of hailing.

It is designed so drivers can balance online work while also still being available to be hailed from the roadside.

But there were initial concerns among some drivers that the use of the app would cause confusion in the rank at Oxford station, if drivers hailed by mytaxi pulled out of the rank to pick up a passenger before they reached the front of the queue.

A poster put up at the station by City of Oxford Licensed Taxicab Association said: “Those who wish to pick up a mytaxi job or a radio job if booked from the ranks must make arrangements with the passenger to pick them up out of sight of the rank.”

But now, Sajad Khan, secretary of the association, said a revised arrangement has been made with drivers.

Acknowledging that more drivers would be using the mytaxi app in due course, he said: “We have requested drivers to pull off the rank if they receive a mytaxi or a radio job (as many drivers are also on the traditional radio circuit) to make other drivers on the rank aware that the driver has received a job through mytaxi or the radio.

“The driver may then pick up the job from a suitable and safe location without causing any obstructions to anyone and more importantly, without burdening any passengers.”

Oxford is the sixth UK city this year where mytaxi has launched.

COLTA has now posted an updated notice at the station which says: “To avoid confusion and being accused of malpractice when accepting either radio or mytaxi app jobs, drivers are advised (if on the rank) to pull off the rank and pick up the passengers from a safe and convenient place. Drivers must not pick up from bus stops, especially the ones by the steps at the rail station, and cause obstruction to bus operations.”

Mytaxi spokesman David Savage said earlier interest from residents and support from Oxford City Council convinced bosses the time was right.

He believes the app has the potential to transform the way people in Oxford take black cabs. It follows the launch of Oxford Bus Company’s PickMeUp app.

https://goo.gl/pHTmps
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 NOTTINGHAM

 A woman has died following a head-on crash with a taxi, yesterday, which left two others in hospital.

Emergency services were called to the scene on Moira Road, near Ashby, just after 6.20pm, on Saturday, October 6 and the road was closed at Shellbrook Close for several hours.

The woman, who was driving a silver Ford Fusion, was involved in a collision with a grey Skoda Octavia taxi.

Three people were taken to Queen's Medical Centre in Nottingham by ambulance. The driver of the Ford died in hospital.

https://goo.gl/BYRtjW
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