UK Govt Emissions Plans Could Force Classics to The Scrapyard

The UK Govt has spotted that lots of people are dodging high VED tax rates, or city centre ULEZ type tolls by driving classics. Obviously this freedom of the road needs to be stopped with some sort of crackdown.

Here’s the word from Footman James, plus some extra comment from Remove My Car below;

Classic car insurance specialist Footman James is calling on classic vehicle owners to make their voices heard over new Government vehicle emissions proposals that could have serious unintended consequences for Britain’s enthusiast community.

The Department for Transport has launched a consultation on in-use vehicle emissions, proposing tougher rules to ensure vehicles continue to meet the emissions standards they were built to comply with when new.

While the stated aim is to tackle poor maintenance, emissions tampering and deliberate ‘delete’ modifications, Footman James is warning that the proposals could also catch responsible owners simply trying to keep cherished cars on the road.

Under the proposals, vehicles could be deemed non-compliant and their owner fined if emissions control systems no longer operate as originally approved. The consultation also goes further, indicating that the removal or manipulation of certain systems –  such as DPFs, GPFs, catalytic converters, AdBlue/SCR systems and diesel EGR systems – would be treated as illegal, regardless of whether there is an impact on the vehicle’s real-world emissions.

Footman James believes this risks creating a perfect storm for modern classics. Many cars from the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s are now entering classic status, but were built with increasingly complex emissions equipment, including catalytic converters, lambda sensors, EGR systems, early engine management, DPFs, AdBlue systems and manufacturer-specific control software.

As these cars age, original parts can become unavailable, prohibitively expensive, or unsupported by manufacturers. Existing legislation demands that owners fit only type-approved components to the emissions control system, yet vehicle manufacturers are not required to keep these components in production indefinitely.

That means the proposals may close one loophole, as the Government sees it, while opening another: a legal gap where a part is required by law, but no longer available. In cases where the OEM part has been discontinued and no compliant aftermarket alternative exists, there may be no lawful repair route left.

That could leave owners with an impossible choice: scrap an otherwise usable, treasured and infrequently used vehicle, or keep it running in a way that the new rules could treat as illegal.

Footman James is calling for a specific exemption for historic, classic and modern classic vehicles where the owner can show that the vehicle is responsibly maintained, but that a compliant repair route for a failed emissions component is not reasonably available.

Sam Smith, Head of Footman James, said: “Classic owners are not the problem this policy is trying to solve. The Government is right to target deliberate emissions cheating, but it must not accidentally punish the people preserving Britain’s motoring heritage.

“The danger here is that a cherished modern classic could be maintained with care and sail through its MOT – including the emissions test – yet still be treated as non-compliant because an obsolete emissions component has failed and can no longer be sourced. Modifying the vehicle or fitting a non-original replacement part to keep it running safely could be deemed illegal under these plans.

“As a result, this proposal risks penalising preservation, not pollution.”

“If the Government wants to make these systems a continuing legal requirement, it must also recognise what happens when the parts no longer exist. Otherwise, the law will be demanding repairs that owners have no lawful way to make.

“We need rules that go after deliberate delete services and emissions defeat devices – not responsible owners trying to do the right thing.”

Footman James says the issue is particularly important for ‘youngtimers’ – vehicles that may not yet qualify for historic status but are already valued, preserved and insured as classic cars. Vehicles from the 1990s and early 2000s are among the most exposed. They are old enough for parts supply and manufacturer support to become a problem, but new enough to have factory emissions systems that could fall within the scope of the proposed rules.

Footman James is encouraging owners, clubs, specialists, restorers and the wider classic vehicle sector to respond to the consultation and call for proportionate safeguards.

The company is asking supporters to make three points to Government:

1. Enforcement should target deliberate emissions defeat, not responsible preservation.
2. Owners should not be penalised where compliant repair is impossible, unavailable or disproportionate.
3. Classic and modern classic vehicles should be given a clear exemption where required emissions components are no longer reasonably obtainable.

The consultation, which can be found here, is open until 11:59pm on 6 September 2026.

Footman James is urging the classic community to act now.

Sam Smith added: “Modern classics are part of Britain’s motoring culture. They should not be lost because regulation failed to account for the realities of keeping our heritage alive.”

REMOVE MY CAR COMMENT

The cars caught in the middle

Cars from the 1990s and 2000s are now entering classic ownership. They were built with the first generation of complex emissions equipment – catalytic converters, lambda sensors, EGR systems, early engine management and manufacturers stopped producing replacement parts for most of them years ago.

When a manufacturer stops making a part, there is normally one place left to get a genuine one: another car of the same model, coming through a licensed treatment facility.

For an ordinary car that works well. We collected 2,399 Ford Focus and 2,090 Vauxhall Astra in twelve months, so there is a real flow of genuine components.

For a modern classic, it does not work at all.

What we actually saw in a year

Across 39,961 vehicles we collected 739 different models and the spread between them is extreme.

Models by number collected across the UK, 12 months to July 2026

Fifteen models account for 41% of every car we collect. At the other end, 426 models – well over half of everything we saw produced fewer than ten vehicles each across the whole country in a year, and 185 appeared exactly once.

The enthusiast cars of the 1990s and 2000s sit firmly in that tail. For many of them, a national network handling forty thousand cars a year sees a handful of donor vehicles in twelve months, sometimes one, sometimes none. Vehicles registered before 1995 came to 89 in total, two in every thousand.

That is the reclaimed parts supply. For a mass-market hatchback it is deep. For a modern classic it is barely a trickle.

CATALYTIC CONVERTERS COULD BE IN SHORT SUPPLY

The rule could shrink the supply further

There is a second effect worth understanding, because it works against what the proposals are trying to achieve.

A reclaimed catalytic converter has two possible destinations. It can be removed carefully, stored and sold as a replacement part, or it can be sent for materials recovery – it contains platinum, palladium and rhodium, and there is an established market for it on that basis alone.

Recovering it as a part takes labour, storage and the confidence that it can lawfully be fitted to another car. Recovering it for its metal takes none of that and pays immediately.

If the rules leave any doubt about whether a reclaimed component may lawfully be used, the commercial logic across the sector shifts towards materials recovery. And that is one-way. A converter that has been processed for its metals is gone for good, whatever the rules or the market later decide.

What would actually help

For ordinary cars, the fix already exists in the Government’s own drafting. Its guidance on historic vehicles says a replacement component need not be the original part and it must have the same technical characteristics. Applying that same test to emissions components would recognise a supply chain that is already regulated, without weakening anything on deliberate tampering.

For modern classics, that will not be enough, because the supply is not there to recognise. That is why the exemption the classic vehicle sector is asking for, where a compliant repair is not reasonably obtainable matters. Our figures suggest the scarcity behind that request is real and measurable, not theoretical.

Find out more from the RemoveMyCar dataset here by the way.