Websites and online retailers are being called on to ban advertisements offering services to remove diesel particulate filters (DPFs) from diesel cars, a service which causes pollution levels to rise exponentially.

Experts estimate thousands of cars in the UK are currently driving without their diesel particulate filter (DPF) thanks to services advertised on sites like Google, eBay and Gumtree offering to remove the filter for a fee. Garages exploit a legal loophole whereby driving a diesel car with its DPF removed is illegal, but the act of removing the filter is not.

Online retailers state the advertisements will not be banned because the act of removing a diesel particulate filter is not illegal. However, were the laws to change, the sites admitted the advertisements would be removed.  

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DPFs trap harmful exhausts particulates, reducing the amount of harmful toxins released into the atmosphere. Since 2000, diesel particulate filters have reduced particle matter emissions by 90 per cent. 

Like any filter, DPFs can get clogged and have to be replaced. Garages can charge over £1,000 for this, and as a result, many advertise services to remove the filter all together. Removing the filter doesn’t affect the car’s performance – some motorists even state they achieve better fuel economy and engine performance as a result.

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Poor air quality is associated with 40,000 premature deaths in the UK every year, and campaign group Friends of the Earth (FoE) recently wrote to the Advertising Standards Authority to ban advertisements for services offering filter removal. The Group is also calling on the Government to tackle the practice head on. 

Legal services offer to trick MoT tests

The Government recently changed the MoT tests to include visible checks for diesel particulate filters. Unfortunately, garages have found ways around this. Some advertise removing the DPF in a fashion so it appears to still be there, to trick MoT testers. 

Friends of the Earth air pollution campaigner, Oliver Hayes, said:“Air pollution is a public health crisis of breath-taking proportions. The dodgy practice of removing pollution filters from cars is not only risking people’s health, but also putting drivers at risk of prosecution for the simple fact that it’s illegal to drive a car with its DPF removed.

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“We’re asking the ASA to clamp down on those advertising these dubious practices and help prevent more deadly pollution hitting our children’s lungs. But we’re also calling on the Government to make it illegal to remove these pollution filters in the first place. Unless they do, the absurd loophole remains whereby unscrupulous garages can remove a pollution filter but it’s only the driver, once they’ve turned the engine on, who is breaking the law.

What do you think about the practice of removing DPF filters from cars? Let us know in the comments section…