How online shopping deliveries are driving up air pollution - Yorkshire Post Letters

THE increase in online shopping, especially at this time of year, is indirectly adding to poor air quality on our urban streets due to the number of diesel-powered vehicles on the roads.

As well as fleets of vans owned or leased by courier firms, more items are being delivered by taxi drivers who are struggling to find work to make a living at the moment.

There are relatively few electric vehicles on the roads at the moment.

Many courier companies use diesel vehicles for economy. However, the short journeys, and lack of scheduled servicing, leads to diesel particle filters (DPF) being blocked, meaning that more poisonous particles are being emitted into the atmosphere.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic most of us, with the exception of key workers, have more time on our hands to shop and choose what we want and socialise safely.

From: Thomas Reed, Harrogate.

I LIVE at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac and it has been frightening to see the frequency of visits by delivery vans on behalf of Amazon and other online distributors. There surely has to be some kind of tax levied on each delivery or pollution will get worse.

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