Sadiq Khan MUST delay the expansion of ULEZ until at least next year, Tories warn

Sadiq Khan has been urged to delay a ‘devastating’ extension to the Ultra Low Emission Zone which is due to be begin in ten days as Londoners battle to get back on their feet after the pandemic.

The £12.50 charge is applied on top of the £15 congestion charge to all petrol and diesel cars, vans, lorries, motorcycles unless they meet ultra-strict emissions standards.

All petrol cars made after January 2006 and diesel cars made after September 2015 do meet the standards – but many ambulances, Ubers, delivery drivers and buses do not.

The zone in which the charge will apply 24 hours a day, seven days a week will be expanded on October 25 from Westminster and the City of London to all of inner London inside the north and south circular road.

Tories blasted the move as ‘absurd’ and warned people had not been able to prepare for the changes while the nation fought off Covid-19.

All types of vehicles are affected by the fare apart from black taxis – and to be exempt, petrol cars, vans and minibuses must meet the Euro 4 emissions standard, which covers all vehicles registered after January 1, 2006.

Diesels must meet Euro 6, which counts for ones rolled out after September 2015, while all electric cars are and hybrids are if they Euro 4 or 6 compliant.

When the new scheme is brought in it means the oldest cars that can be driven in London without paying are a four-year-old diesel or a 13-year-old petrol.

GLA Conservatives blasted the move as ‘harmful in normal times’ but said it would be ‘devastating’ after the past 20 months.

The warning comes as Mr Khan visits the ULEZ control centre at Capita, just 10 days before the expansion of the zone. 

GLA Conservatives’ transport spokesman Keith Prince AM will send a letter, seen by MailOnline, to Mr Khan calling for a delay to the extension.

He wrote: ‘I am writing to request that you delay the expansion of the Ultra Low Emission Zone until next year to allow Londoners time to recover and prepare.

‘When you announced your plan to expand the ULEZ charge up to the North and South Circulars in June 2018, Londoners had over three years’ notice of the significant change.

‘However, the coronavirus crisis has significantly impacted upon the ability of people and businesses to use that time to prepare.

‘From March 2020 to July 2021, London has faced uncertainty and economic damage from repeated lockdowns and restrictions as we battled the virus.

‘It’s absurd to think that Londoners could have used this time to prepare for ULEZ expansion.’

He added: ‘London can’t afford for you to rush the ULEZ expansion so soon after the pandemic. In normal times this policy would be harmful.

‘But it will be devastating for those whose livelihoods still hang in the balance in tough times like these.’

The move will force owners of more-polluting vehicles that do not comply with strict emission standards to pay a £12.50 daily fee – in addition to the congestion charge.

The Mayor will make the zone 18 times larger than it is currently meaning 100,000 more cars, 35,000 vans and 3,000 lorries will be affected.

Lorries and buses who do not pay the fees will be slapped with a £100 fine. The AA put its estimate at the number of motorists affected at 350,000.

Campaign group Stop ULEZ said there are alternatives to the green scheme and wants the mayor to call it off.

Its website says instead of bringing it in councils should smooth out traffic, be smarter with buses, plant more trees and take lorries off city routes.

Waltham Forest Councillor John Moss, who runs the website, said: ‘I support the proposal to delay the implementation of the expanded ULEZ.

‘The justification for expansion was marginal at best and likely to hit carers, cleaners and shift-working nurses rather than company car drivers and commercial users, most of whom have now upgraded to compliant vehicles in response to the creation of the central London zone.’

Mr Khan was today at the ULEZ control centre at Capita, just 10 days before the expansion of the zone 

He said: ‘I’m committed to building bridges between London and the rest of our country and showcasing how the capital can help the national recovery and the levelling up agenda.

‘Together, Capita’s TfL contracts and the state-of-the-art London Electric Vehicle Company in Coventry employ 2,200 people in the West Midlands and North of England, showing clearly how London relies on the skills of other regions and that investment in our capital can help create quality green jobs across the country.

‘Tackling the climate crisis and growing our economy across the UK is about regions working together and investing in new technologies.

‘London is ready and willing to play its part in ensuring a strong and green national recovery from this terrible pandemic.’

Transport for London estimated its total income from the expanded ULEZ, along with congestion charge and low emission zones, will hit £762million this financial year.

Between 2022 and 2023, this number could hit £1.157billion. Petrol cars must comply with the Euro 4 engine standards – usually vehicles registered from January 2006 – or face paying the fee.

Meanwhile, diesel cars will need to pay up unless they meet the Euro 6 standard – meaning they were registered after September 2015.

The capital’s Ultra Low Emission Zone – which was introduced in 2019 – will cover the streets inside the North and South Circular roads under Khan’s new plans.

The move will come into force on October 25.

Meanwhile Mr Khan was berated for using Covid as an excuse to cancel London’s famous New Year’s Eve fireworks display.

Sajid Javid urged the Mayor to think again about the controversial decision to cancel the display.

Mr Khan was branded a killjoy this week when he announced he was scrapping the celebration because of ‘uncertainty caused by Covid’.

But Mt Javid dismissed Covid as an excuse for ditching the display, which attracts 100,000 revellers to the capital.

Urging Mr Khan to reconsider, he last night said the event was a ‘fantastic advert for London’.

‘I can’t understand why the fireworks can’t happen,’ Mr Javid told LBC’s Nick Ferrari.

‘I think there’s a perfectly safe way that it can take place, so I really don’t understand that decision. But that’s not a decision for the Government.. It’s the Mayor’s firework display, so I hope he can reconsider it.’

The London Mayor’s office ruled out a change of heart, saying that plans were already in train for an alternative ‘spectacular New Year’s Eve event’.

A spokesman said: ‘It takes a year to organise an event of this magnitude, and for most of that year we have been in lockdown and Covid uncertainty with the Government unable to confirm if mass gatherings would be able to go ahead.

‘To arrange an event on the Thames which had to then be cancelled would have wasted millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money at a time of major financial pressures.’