ENVIRONMENTALISTS are rightly concerned about vehicle pollution, especially under stop/start urban driving conditions.

Unfortunately for many, public transport is not a viable option, and although electric cars are ideal, their use is currently restricted by range/cost considerations, and the availability of charging points.

The next best option is a hybrid car, which is essentially a short-range electric car with a 'lean-burn' (relatively low pollution) petrol engine.

My hybrid averages 58 miles per gallon over a combination of long, and very short local trips, and usually runs on the battery in urban conditions; a very practical option.

Most hybrid cars used to be free from Vehicle Excise Duty, but since 2017 the Government changed the rules, and new hybrids now pay a variable rate in the first year, but thereafter all new cars pay the same rate, irrespective of their pollution level (apart from very expensive, and usually high-polluting cars, which do pay more).

Given that a petrol hybrid will be the best option for most people, so much for Tory claims to 'green credentials'!

Alan Jordan, Middridge