Bangers ban and Paris toll planned

ANCIENT bangers, classic cars, old lorries and old motorcycles could be banned from Paris in a move to stop pollution that could also see toll barriers put up on city motoways to cut traffic.

Mayor Bertrand Delanoë has revealed a package of measures that would also include 30kph zones in the city - with the Avenue de Clichy targeted by next summer.

He has asked the city council to look at introducing a banger ban by September 2014 on cars more than 17 years old and lorries more than 18 years old. Motorcycles built before 2004 would also be banned as he said they were the "most polluting and the noisiest".

Delanoë wants discussions with other local authorities around Paris with his move affecting the area inside the A86 motorway. Péage gates would be set up on cross-city autoroutes to cut traffic and "the nuisance it causes".

He said his ultimate aim was to progressively get rid of all heavy vehicle traffic in the city and on the Périphérique - and to levy a heavy-vehicle "Eco tax" on the ring road.

However, he said measures would also have to be introduced to help families and businesses update vehicles.

Officials at the mairie said that the plan would need approval at ministerial level but would also need backing from the Paris Préfecture de Police

Opposition UMP councillors denounced his "autocratic measures", saying that after 11 years of "incoherent policy" Delanoë suddenly seemed to notice that Paris was "today more polluted than in 2001".
Photo: Sven Storbeck