Paris has revealed its plans to ban older vehicles from its centre, in order to lower its pollution levels, according to Autocar.

The ban procedure is expected to start this summer and the first vehicles to be banned from the city centre will be buses, coaches and lorries registered before 30 September 2001, passenger cars registered before 31 December 1996 and vans/light trucks registered before 30 September 1997.

Coaches, buses and lorries will still be able to use the main ring road around Paris after the restriction occurs. These restrictions will become progressively even stricter towards 2020 when only passenger cars registered after 2011 and motorcycles registered after July 2015 will be allowed to travel inside central Paris.

The Mayor of Paris has already expressed her will to gradually throw out of Paris most diesel vehicles, considering them as the most polluting. The French government has already taken measures against diesel vehicles, by raising the tax on diesel fuel and expressed its will to offer incentives to owners of older diesel vehicles up to €10,000 to switch to electric cars.

Other European cities such as London have also expressed similar concerns about older diesel vehicles because of the high levels of nitrogen oxides and fine particles, most of which are generated by them.

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