Toulouse: “With the implementation of the Low Emission Zone, it is the small craftsmen who are penalized”, explains an entrepreneur
Craftsmen, business leaders, delivery people… Professionals are affected from September 1 by the prohibition of access to vehicles classified CritAir 4 and 5 within the Low Emission Zone (ZFE) of Toulouse.
“It’s quite simply a scandal”, Corentin, self-employed craftsman in the south of Toulouse is very upset. From September 1, this entrepreneur for nearly 20 years has two vehicles to run his business. Only downside: the two utilities he uses to get around are classified Crit sticker 4 and 5. It is these vehicles which from September 1 will be prohibited from franchising the Low Emission Zone (ZFE) of Toulouse. “It takes five years to recoup an investment like that. I don’t have the means to buy two trucks, I would have to take out almost 100,000 euros”, confides, disillusioned, Corentin. He therefore made the choice not to change anything and to take the risk of going to Toulouse to ensure his construction sites, at the risk of being checked and fined. “If I have to pay a fine, I will have to pass this on to my customers. Gradually, I will also be forced to refuse sites located in the ZFE,” continues the craftsman.
For him, it is “a way to repel small craftsmen, to lessize”, for the benefit of “large companies which have the means to renew their fleet of vehicles”. Frédéric, 45, freelancer shares this opinion. In particular, he regularly delivers firewood to Toulouse and does so with the help of a dump truck. But with the implementation of this measure, he will no longer be able to go there. “It’s my work tool, without it, I can’t do anything, I won’t have the choice but to defy the ban”, slips the professional. This new salvo of bans is only a step in the implementation of this vast anti-pollution plan. Next January, all motorized vehicles certified Crit’air 4, 5 and unclassified will be prohibited from going to this area which includes all of Toulouse inside the ring road plus a small part of Colomiers and Tournefeuille, i.e. a perimeter of 72 km2.