Furious drivers resort to stealing traffic cameras ahead of £12.50 daily charge

18 April 2023 , 14:24

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Furious drivers resort to stealing traffic cameras ahead of £12.50 daily charge

Seething Londoners have been reduced to stealing Ultra-Low Emission Zone cameras and cutting wires as fury mounts over the government's controversial expansion.

Major Sadiq Khan is facing more backlash over his plan to include all 32 London boroughs in the idea dubbed a 'pure money-making scheme' by angry protestors.

From August 29, the enlargement will be rolled out meaning an estimated 700,000 more car owners must pay £12.50 daily charge to travel around the capital.

ULEZ cameras are reported to have been ripped from their bases and damaged with claims some of the registration detection devices have had their wires cut.

It appears wires have been cut ahead of the August roll-out (Twitter)

Last month, protestors covered the capital's cameras with bags and boxes

Protestors have been also been seen scaling traffic light to damage the cameras in Bromley, Stoke Newington, Kilburn and Greenwich.

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It is claimed many in south west London are also out of action with reports in Heathrow, Cheam, Chiswick, Fulham, Kingston and Sutton.

It comes after shopping bags and boxes were last month placed over them after Khan refused to back down.

Vandalising the cameras is a criminal activity and the Mirror understands any incidents are pursued by the Met Police.

City Hall said in a statement: "As of 21 March 2023, there had been 31 instances of vandalism or theft to ULEZ cameras within the expansion zone. Within the existing zone, there had been 12 instances of vandalism or theft.

Sadiq Khan has defended his hated ULEZ expansion (PA)

"Due to commercial and confidentiality reasons, TfL cannot share the unit cost of cameras, or for repair of cameras."

The Major been slammed for pushing through the idea that generated an estimated £93.6m of additional revenue in the levy's first eight months of operation.

It is now understood to have made £250 million since it was implemented in 2019. Any revenue from ULEZ is reinvested into public transport.

Mr Khan said toxic air led to the premature deaths of 4,000 Londoners every year as he justified the expansion.

There have been reported that many of London's cameras have been damaged with some even stolen (Twitter)

But businesses says it's all about revenue raising - and they will be hit with more areas now covered as he it stung by accusations of fleecing the poor.

Met Police and British Transport Police will have also have access to the cameras, sparking further privacy fears from campaigners.

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Transport for London (TfL) has recently said nine out of 10 cars driving in outer London meet the ULEZ standards, so will not be liable for the charge.

The areas the new 'clean air' tax will cover from August (TFL)

Most diesel cars registered before September 2015 and petrol cars registered prior to January 2006 could be made to pay the charge.

As of November 2022, TfL estimated that the number of compliant vehicles within the whole of Greater London stood at 90.5%.

Nine in ten cars in outer London are ULEZ compliant.

However, outer London currently has the lowest proportion of ULEZ-compliant vehicles, with just 85% estimated to be meeting the standards as of January 2023.

Hundreds of thousands more drivers will be required to pay £12.50 per day later this summer (PA)

The reason for the expansion of the zone, which currently covers the area within London’s North and South Circular roads, is to improve air quality in the city.

Nicholas Lyes, head of roads policy at the RAC said that cleaning up London's air should "undoubtedly be a priority" however, the number of vehicles that don't meet the requirements cannot be ignored.

He said: “We desperately need more coordination between the Mayor and the Government to help small businesses, tradespeople, NHS staff and carers who have no choice but to drive into the expanded ULEZ for work purposes from outside Greater London.

Sam Elliott-Gibbs