UK medical boss Chris Whitty takes on air pollution, urges Brits to challenge idling motorists
- Professor Chris Whitty, England’s chief medical officer, played a key role handling pandemic; his annual report this year says people should scold some drivers
- He targeted those who leave engines running while parked, while those who do that near schools are ‘incredibly antisocial’; dirty air kills up to 38,000 a year, he says
People should scold motorists who leave their engines running while they are parked because of the health risks caused by air pollution, said Professor Chris Whitty, England’s chief medical officer.
Any driver pumping out fumes outside a school is an “incredibly antisocial person”, he added, urging Britons to “have the courage” to challenge idling motorists.
Whitty – who played a prominent role in the UK’s handling of Covid-19 – made the comments alongside publication of his independent annual report, which focused on the dangers of air pollution. He said it currently kills as many as 38,000 people a year in England.
Whitty backed London’s ultra-low emissions zone, which aims to encourage drivers to switch to less polluting vehicles. The policy had been “a win for absolutely everybody, including the people driving the cars”, he said.
He also described himself as “pro-EV”, saying electric cars pose lower health risks compared to petrol or diesel vehicles.
The report, released on Thursday, shows how several measures of air pollution have dropped sharply since 1970. Levels of particulates, nitrogen oxides and sulphur dioxide in the air have all fallen over the past 50 years, but ammonia pollution, which comes largely from agriculture, has remained nearly static.