Thousands of drivers have been caught driving without their diesel particulate filter, new figures reveal. Since 2014, 1,800 drivers were caught by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency driving without the pollution-reducing filter.
It is legal to remove a car’s DPF but it is against the law to drive without one if it should be installed. Some drivers who have their DPFs blocked may simply opt to remove them instead of paying for a new one, which can cost around PS1,000. Drivers of cars could face a PS1,000 fine for doing this, while van drivers without DPFs will be subject to a PS2,500 penalty.
Diesel particulate filters trap microscopic pollutants from diesel engines that would otherwise escape into the atmosphere. However, they require periodic'regeneration' which involves burning off the captured particles. This can only happen at very high temperatures. Vehicles are often driven at a high speed to achieve this temperature. Because diesel drivers who live in urban areas tend to drive more frequently, their vehicles may not reach the right conditions for regeneration.
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It is easy to remove a DPF. This involves cutting a hole through the vehicle's exhaust and then removing the filter. Finally, welding the hole closed. MoT testing requires diesel cars to have DPFs. However, the inspection is visual and not an emissions analysis. The car's performance is not affected by removing the filter. Some motorists claim they get better fuel economy and engine performance with one.
Emissions Analytics chief executive Nick Molden told BBC that the MoT test was not designed to determine if a DPF had been removed. Frank Kelly, professor at Kings College London, said that a car without a DPF is 20 times more polluting than one with it. Diesel particulate filters have decreased particle matter emissions by 90% since 2000.
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This news follows reports that previously reported that many websites and online services offer DPF-removal services.
For a fee, you can remove the filter from services such as Gumtree, eBay and Google. Garages that offer this service can take advantage of the legal loophole which means that driving a diesel vehicle with its DPF removed, but not the act of removing it, is illegal.
Online retailers claim that the advertisement will not be banned as the act of removing the diesel particulate filter from a diesel engine is legal. The sites did admit that the advertisements would be removed if the laws were changed.
Poor air quality is linked to 40,000 premature deaths each year in the UK. Friends of the Earth (FoE), a campaign group, recently asked the Advertising Standards Authority to ban advertising for filter removal services. The Group also calls on the Government to end this practice.
Oliver Hayes, a Friends of the Earth air pollution campaigner said that "air pollution is a public healthcare crisis of life-threatening proportions." Dodgy practices like removing pollutant filters from cars are not only dangerous for people's health but can also put drivers at risk of being prosecuted simply because it is illegal to drive a car without its DPF.
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"We are asking the ASA for help in preventing more harmful pollution from reaching our children's lungs. We also call on the government to make it illegal for these pollution filters to be removed in the first instance. Until they do, there will be an absurd loophole where unscrupulous garages may remove a polluting filter, but the driver is responsible for breaking the law once the engine has been turned on.
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