That is congestion charge isn't it? To reduce congestion.
Not pollution related, because pollution related charge is called T-charge or ULEZ. Here is list of cities that are considering pollution based charges:
https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewe...ll=51.765529054254856,0.24810334919004617&z=9
Does it pollute when you only drive 0.5 mile and stop at first traffic light while it is 0c outside?
A lot of the school run cars were only driven a short distance before idling at the school gates. The engine emission control may not have kicked in yet. This is the problem. Emission control need to be applied to cold engines, only whenever it suits the car.
My Skoda diesel stop/start didn't kick in at all on this cold morning. Though my car had been sat on my drive for over a week, the 12v battery is over 5 years old. When I was wiring up my fan heater contraption last night with car turned on but engine not running, it flashed up low battery warning. I may need to buy one of those solar panel 12v trickle chargers..........