Alex@rtnVFRmedia Suffolk UK

Two young women at my work went on a weekend shopping trip from #Suffolk to #Thurrock with their kids - one was driving a petrol VW Polo, the other a diesel SUV (Ford Kuga).

The lass in the diesel car wrong-laned a spiral roundabout coming off #M25 and ended up briefly going into Outer London and entering #ULEZ - she ended up with about £30 in charges but just paid them without whinging and blaming Sadiq Khan etc - there definitely seems to be a gender difference in how folk react to ULEZ (although its also the case folk round here don't always keep up with what is going on in London, a friend didn't realise where the boundary was as until last year he'd never even driven on the M25!)

May 31, 2025 at 12:05amWeb
Show threadFrankMay 31, 2025
@vfrmedia I've seen a lot of guys whinging about this, who then tend to spiral off into thinly veiled Muslim bashing. Wonder if they'd be as irate if he was called Steve Smith.
Show threadAlex@rtnVFRmedia Suffolk UKMay 31, 2025

@vwdasher ULEZ was originally implemented by the Conservatives under Boris Johnson! Also they didn't whine about it when it mostly affected the less affluent areas of London with more black/brown people, until it reached the entire boundary of greater London.

The biggest pushback and anger comes from what you call tradies in Australia who live just outside London and had been undercutting their competitors by using 20 year old sheds of diesel vans for work (rather than investing in newer ones or EVs), and yes they are really annoyed a brown person is telling them what to do and has the power to do so (this is also very likely what led to the Tories falling out of favour when Rishi Sunak became PM)

Show threadFrankMay 31, 2025

@vfrmedia Yeah I really didn't think he had a chance of lasting due to his skin colour and name. No matter how big a snob and wanker he was. They just don't want them in their party when no longer convenient.

There's been rumblings of doing something similar here but the tradies always freak out. They already get massive tax breaks on their enormous utes but god forbid they be decent members of society...

Show threadAlex@rtnVFRmedia Suffolk UKMay 31, 2025

@vwdasher this might be the Achilles Heel of Reform UK, at some point they are going to try and leverage Zia Yusuf to counter allegations of racism and bigotry (its already causing splits within the party).

ULEZ isn't even that harsh, I can drive my 2 litre petrol Golf GTI to outer London right now if I wished and not have to pay it (indeed, it originally came from a dealer in North London).

Whilst speaking to the young staff there I got the impression its a popular aspirational car amongst young people in London (its relative thirst compared to smaller engines is masked by the slow traffic speeds and congested roads)

Also LTNs don't cause problems, I was near one in Felixstowe just last week and there are ample parking spaces a few metres from the pedestrian area..

Show threadFrankMay 31, 2025
@vfrmedia Oh please, that won't change a thing until all the old fuckwits are dead. They are racist and it's engrained in the party. Our equivalent is the Liberal party (hilarious name I know) who are in a coalition with the National Party. One very ambitious - but stupid - member happens to be Indigenous. She decided to jump from Nats to Libs, pissing off all the racists. She thought she'd be deputy PM but the party was trounced in the election. The white members will be rid of her no doubt.
Show threadFrankMay 31, 2025

@vfrmedia One can only be a useful idiot for so long.

See my dailies have little engines, but I also avoid going into town as it's so choked and horrible to drive in. A levy like this would only help the tram network and move people around more efficiently! Apparently too logical for the knuckle heads in utes.

Show threadAlex@rtnVFRmedia Suffolk UKMay 31, 2025

@vwdasher Zia Yusuf has some links with Formula 1 and Reform might try and use him in the hope of attracting British Asian voters who drive, but TBH I don't see the same level of angry anti-environmentalism amongst British Asians even if they are car enthusiasts (certainly not enough to make them consider voting for an actively racist party!)

I was surprised at how easy it was to find a parking space in Felixstowe and how close they were to the shops - I had to use some cursed app to pay for the parking as the meters don't accept NFC cards but it wasn't an excessive amount..

Show threadInsertUserMay 31, 2025

@vfrmedia There does seem to be a general assumption that everyone must be so obsessed with London that we all must know what they've changed since the last time we were dragged to The Big Smoke.

Last time I was contemplating a Heathrow dropoff I did think its inclusion in the boundary was particularly spiteful. Fortunately the car is relatively new.