Alexandra Jaegy 08h20, November 04, 2022

Since September 1, the metropolis of Rouen has set up a ZFE, Low Emission Zone, prohibiting the circulation of all Crit'Air 4 and 5 vehicles in the city, but also in 13 other municipalities of its agglomeration.

A measure that is not unanimous among the inhabitants.

In September, a demonstration of more than 300 people took place in the city center of Rouen to protest against the establishment of a Low Emission Zone, preventing excessively polluting cars from circulating.

For many residents, the solutions to avoid taking their car are almost non-existent.

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In the premises of the Plus Never Ca collective, against the creation of a ZFE, Pascal rose up.

This retiree from the post office lives in Anceaumeville, a village 25 kilometers from Rouen.

Despite the ban, he must take his car every day, which is deemed too polluting.

"We have to come to the metropolis, when you live in a village where there are no shops... I have another means of transport, which is to take a metro-bus, except that the terminal is inside the ZFE, so I can't enter the ZFE!" he says indignantly.

Not enough help to go electric

No question of claiming aid from the metropolis for the purchase of an electric vehicle.

These 6,000 euros are reserved for the inhabitants of the ZFE.

"An insufficient boost", blows Arnaud.

“An electric car costs around 30,000 euros: but who is going to give me the missing 24,000 euros?” he laments.

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"I have no choice", Philippe, owner of a Crit'Air 4 vehicle, resists

His low income is a real obstacle.

"I earn 953 euros per month, I can't afford it," he explains.

"And since I have health concerns, the first thing I asked myself was how am I going to go to the CHU now? Everything will have to be planned in advance, now, to go to Rouen, it's as if we were going to the other end of France. We will find ourselves locked up at home." 

A ZFE hastily set up, according to this fifty-year-old who feels increasingly isolated.

In March 2023, the fines will fall... He plans, under duress, to rent a vehicle or carpool.