Mrs M had her day in the highest German federal administrative court last week over the great emission scandal. Like Macavity, she wasn't there in person, of course, but her policies were – and they lost.
The result is that German cities now have approval to ban diesel cars that don't meet the recently introduced Euro 6 standards. Although the court said that any curbs should be introduced gradually, The Times reports that Hamburg has announced a ban from May 2018. And what will poor Stuttgart – one the worst cities for Nix pollution – now do, given that it's the location of Mercedes-Benz and Porsche. Oh, the angst ...
This leaves many of Germany's 15 million diesel owners – who took manufacturers and government reassurances at face value – in a spot, and Mrs M fears a revolt to add to her mounting woes. Barbara Hendricks, environment minister, has said that bans could still be avoided if carmakers agreed to pay to upgrade the exhaust-cleaning systems of older diesels. This was, of course, just a joke but no one's laughing.
Meanwhile, in the UK, the government blithely ignores our own court rulings over clean air.
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