Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to make it illegal to disable a diesel particulate filter.

It is an offence under the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations (Regulation 61a(3)) to use on a road a vehicle which has been modified in such a way that it no longer complies with the air pollutant emissions standards it was designed to meet. Removal of a diesel particulate filter (DPF), from a vehicle used on the road, will invariably result in a contravention of the Regulations (making the vehicle unlawful to use on the road). The potential penalties are £1,000 for a car and £2,500 for a van, lorry or bus.

Under section 75 of the Road Traffic Act 1988, it is an offence to alter a vehicle in such a way that the use of the vehicle on a road would be unlawful. Thus both the vehicle user and the person disabling the DPF (if they knew or believed that the vehicle would be used on the road) could be found guilty of an offence under the Act.