A man has been charged with damaging traffic cameras that record number plates to check whether the vehicles need to be charged for entering London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ).
It comes after activists—who were dubbed “ULEZ Blade Runners”—were reportedly targeting the cameras ahead of the controversial ULEZ expansion to the whole of the Greater London area in August.
Joseph Nicolls, 42, of Sidcup, a suburban London area, was charged with criminal damage, malicious communications, and handling stolen goods, as well as aiding or abetting the destruction of, or damage to, property valued over £5,000, the Metropolitan Police said on Friday.
Nicolls appeared at Bromley Magistrates Court on Thursday before being released on bail.
The Met said Transport for London (TfL) had reported 96 allegations of criminal damage, but it declined to reveal how many Nicolls allegedly damaged or what “malicious communications” were entailed.
Lead investigator, Detective Superintendent Daniel Smith said: “We have been proactively targeting those we suspect of causing or seeking to cause damage.
Smith said officers are carrying out a “thorough investigation” including gathering CCTV footage, speaking to potential witnesses, and following up on active leads.
Controversial Expansion
ULEZ is a zone in which vehicles that do not meet certain emissions standards must pay a daily charge of £12.5 to drive or face fines.It was initially planned during Boris Johnson’s mayorship and launched by Mayor Sadiq Khan in 2019. The zone originally covered the same central London area as the Congestion Charge was extended to the North and South Circular Roads in October 2021. It’s now set to expand to the whole of Greater London from Aug. 29.
Khan and TfL said the expansion would help clean up London’s air and improve residents’ health, saying around 4,000 people die prematurely because of air pollution each year.
The Study said the equivalent of between 3,600 to 4,100 deaths in Greater London in 2019 were “estimated to be attributable to human-made PM2.5 and NO2,” counting “all causes including respiratory, lung cancer, and cardiovascular deaths.”
It also calculated that a child born in London in 2013 would on average live 5 to 6 months longer with Khan’s air quality policies.
Khan’s plan has been met with fierce opposition from campaign groups and Conservative-led suburban councils, who argue the rationale behind the extension is “bad science,” and that the plan would disproportionately affect lower-income households and small businesses.
City Hall Conservatives have said the High Court has allowed their legal challenge against the plan.
The issue is also set to be one of the focal points in next year’s mayoral election.
Conservative Party Candidate Susan Hall said she would stop the expansion, while Reclaim Party candidate, pro-driver campaigner Howard Cox vowed to scrap the whole scheme.
Green Party’s candidate Zoë Garbett said she supported the ULEZ expansion, but suggested she would offer more financial support to help reduce the cost of changing vehicles.
But it was also reported that some activists opted to take matters into their own hands by targeting new cameras.
The report showed photos of some cameras that were either covered, had their wire clipped, or were abandoned on the streets. It also showed photos of people wearing balaclavas and hoods while holding what appeared to be ULEZ cameras.
TfL told the publication at the time that all incidents were reported to the police for investigation, but the Met said it had not heard about the incidents, the report said.
