ULEZ: Anger as Sadiq Khan Tells 200,000 London Motorists to Pay ‘Punitive Tax’

A sign at the expanded boundary of London’s ULEZ pollution charge zone for older vehicles on Oct. 25, 2021. Yui Mok/PA

The mayor of London has extended the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) to the outskirts of the capital, forcing more than 200,000 motorists to pay an extra £12.50 ($15) a day.

The U.N. Secretary General’s special envoy on climate ambition and solutions, Michael Bloomberg, praised Mayor Sadiq Khan for “helping to clean London’s air and set an example for cities around the world.”

But the measure will affect many businesses using vans to deliver goods around London, and Michael Lloyd of the Federation of Small Businesses said it was a “heavy-handed” move which would “leave many small firms in a precarious position.”

Transport for London estimated the extension would affect 160,000 cars and 42,000 vans a day.

Earlier this month the former Prime Minister Boris Johnson—whose Uxbridge and South Ruislip constituency is covered by the extension—said on Twitter he supported a letter written by the leader of Tory-run Hillingdon Council and the leader of Hillingdon’s Labour group and added, “It is not the right time for this measure which would add to people’s cost of living.”

In their letter council leader Ian Edwards and Peter Curling, from Labour, said, “A cleaner London is something we all strive for and we urge the Mayor and the [Greater London Authority] to work with the outer London boroughs to deliver this objective for the benefit of all residents rather than just impose this punitive tax.”

The ULEZ was launched by Khan in 2019 and originally only covered the same central London area as the Congestion Charge, but in October 2021 it was extended to the North and South Circular Roads.

A study by Imperial College’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Centre for Transport Studies last year said, “Compared to the overall decrease in London’s air pollution levels, the ULEZ caused only small improvements in air quality: an average reduction of less than three percent for nitrogen dioxide concentrations, and insignificant effects on ozone and particulate matter  concentrations.”

The vehicles that are most likely to have to pay the ULEZ charge are diesel cars and vans registered before 2016 or petrol cars from before 2006.

Vehicles sitting in traffic approach the Blackwall Tunnel in London on Nov. 18, 2020. Simon Dawson/Reuters

For diesel cars and vans to avoid the charge they must generally have been registered from 2016, while most petrol models registered from 2006 are exempt.

Now it will extend to the furthest limit of the London boroughs, close to the M25 orbital motorway.

When it was first introduced Khan said it would halve emissions of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), which affect air quality.

NO2 damages lungs and can exacerbate existing conditions such as asthma and lung and heart disease.

Khan said on Friday that from Aug. 29, 2023 the ULEZ would cover the whole of the capital.

‘Public Health Comes Before Political Expediency’

Khan said: “Expanding the ULEZ London-wide has not been an easy decision. The easy thing for me would have been to kick the can down the road. But in the end, public health comes before political expediency.”

He said it was “one of the toughest decisions” he had to take but he said air pollution was making in London “sick from cradle to the grave” and he said poor air quality was linked to cancer, lung disease, dementia, and asthma.

In December 2020 the inner south London coroner, Philip Barlow, ruled that the death of 9-year-old Ella Kissi-Debrah in February 2013 was caused by acute respiratory failure, severe asthma, and air pollution exposure.

Kissi-Debrah lived close to a busy road in Lewisham, southeast London.

The coroner said she was exposed to nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter pollution in excess of World Health Organization guidelines.

Commenting on the ULEZ expansion decision on Friday, Kissi-Debrah’s mother, Rosamund, told London World: “Every year in London eight to 10 children die, in Norway and Finland children don’t. This has to stop.”

Khan, who was reelected as mayor in May 2021, urged people to walk and cycle more or use public transport and he promised a major expansion of bus routes in the outer boroughs of London.

Following a public consultation between May and July this year, Khan announced plans for a £110 million scrappage scheme which would help small businesses, the disabled, and those on low incomes to scrap or retrofit non-compliant vehicles.

The Greater London Authority Conservatives, referring to the public consultation, said 70 percent of residents in outer London had been opposed to it.

The Conservatives’ transport spokesman Nick Rogers said: “Now is not the time to hammer Londoners with a £12.50 daily cost-of-living charge. Residents have made their views very clear to the mayor: they do not want the ULEZ expansion. The mayor must listen to them, scrap these plans and use the £250 million saved on real measures that tackle air pollution.”

The RAC’s head of roads policy, Nicholas Lyes, said the extension was a “hammer blow for desperate drivers and businesses already struggling with crippling fuel costs.”

The Federation of Small Businesses said a recent survey suggested 18 percent of their members planned to shut down if the extension went ahead, and a quarter intended to pass the extra cost on to customers.

The campaign group Mums for Lungs wrote on Twitter: “Good news for the health of all Londoners. Air pollution is affecting children before they’re even born, and giving them lifelong health issues. We welcome this move to further clean up London’s air.”

PA Media contributed to this content.