ULEZ expansion begins with chaos

Sadiq Khan has resisted pressure to delay or ditch unpopular ULEZ expansion

ULEZ expansion begins with chaos
Photo: Bigstock

TfL’s website for the number plate checker crashes, vigilantes vandalise cameras, and local governments outside of London refuse to put up signs for Sadiq Khan’s contentious Ulez expansion project.

The decision, which went into effect at midnight, means that drivers of certain cars will now have to pay £12.50 per day to enter the city. This will bring an additional £2.5 million per day to City Hall and is expected to raise billions in the following years.

Charities, conservative councils and people of outer London have all vehemently opposed the extension, which Mr. Khan claims will aid in the fight against pollution in the capital. The mayor has even defied calls from Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer to delay it.

The outrage has been so great that some drivers have decided to vandalise and damage Ulez cameras in the places where the extension is being implemented, painting the lenses, severing the wiring, and even destroying them completely.

The besieged mayor reiterated this morning that the expansion of the programme was neither “anti-car or anti-motorist,” but the idea was derided by Tories as a “money-raising exercise” by Transport Secretary Mark Harper, who claimed that he would have stopped it if he had the authority.

The implementation hasn’t gone smoothly however, with the Transport for London (TfL) number plate checker website coming to a crawl and keeping users in an online queue due to the volume of traffic. This website allows drivers to see if their vehicle will be charged.

While this is going on, the London-bordering municipalities have declined to erect the road signs alerting traffic that they are about to enter the Ulez. Only Slough, one of the seven local authorities that surround the capital, has signed a deal with TfL; the other councils are in Kent, Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex, Surrey, and Thurrock.

Petrol automobiles produced prior to 2005 that do not meet Euro 4 emissions standards are affected by the Ulez. Diesel vehicles, however, are only exempt provided their engines meet the more modern Euro 6 regulations, which went into effect in September 2015.

Popular vans like Ford Transit Custom 310s that were registered before the deadline will fall victim to this.

This morning, dozens of the cameras intended to catch non-compliant vehicles were inoperable because anti-Ulez demonstrators had vandalised them.

Source Mail Online

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