The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan’s wide expansion of the ultra-low emission zone (Ulez) has proven one of the most controversial motoring decisions in 2023.
The expansion requires cars to meet strict emissions regulations in most areas within the M25 or face paying a £12.50 daily charge or steep fines. It’s prompted motorists to illegal tactics such as ripping down the cameras, and even an extreme case recently of explosives being planted to blow up one of the Ulez cameras.
To be able to enter a Ulez area without charge, petrol cars and vans need to meet Euro 4 requirements (which became mandatory in 2005), but for diesel vehicles, they have to be Euro 6, which wasn’t compulsory until September 2015. It’s led to thousands of motorists with vehicles that are non-compliant, especially diesel, having to get rid of their vehicles or face financial penalties.
Sadiq Khan announced a Ulez scrappage scheme in August 2023, just weeks before the expansion, that would allow Londoners with non-compliant vehicles to get a £2,000 discount to put towards a compliant vehicle.
However, it’s this scheme that is now the latest controversy as the Telegraph uncovered a letter sent by Khan to Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko that said the requests to donate non-compliant vehicles to Ukraine instead of scrapping them did not ‘meet the legal threshold’.
This is because the scrappage scheme needed to offer an ‘economic, social and environmental’ benefit to Londoners and was designed to ‘permanently remove’ non-compliant vehicles.
Many of the cars being traded in under the scheme are still roadworthy and are said to be ideal for use in Ukraine, especially 4x4s and pick-ups which are modified to be used by the country’s military as it continues its efforts against the Russian conflict.
There are various charities already set up to send cars from across Europe to the country, with Cars 4 Ukraine being one of the largest. It says it has delivered 346 cars so far, worth $2.8m (£2.2m) to the country so far.
Richard Lofthouse, a campaigner who was in talks with the London Mayor told Car Dealer that his positioning was ‘embarrassing’.
Writing for Car Dealer, Lofthouse said: “I was out in Kyiv as early as March and with the help of other Car4Ukraine volunteers like Patrick McIntyre persuaded the Kyiv Mayor to approach London.
“Weeks and weeks passed with no reply and then a polite ‘no’ came back from London to Kyiv in early June.”
Lofthouse said he had been back and forward with meetings in the hope London would change its mind, to no avail.
He added: “I can only say that is self-authored. He needs to find some courage and do the right thing, even if it’s at the level of a generous gesture of just a few dozen vehicles as a one-off.
“Instead, we’ve had a whole string of performative statements from the Mayor saying again and again that Londoners are shoulder-to-shoulder with Ukrainians. The reality is that London, as opposed to individual Londoners, has done virtually nothing to help Ukraine and as a Londoner, I find it embarrassing.”
Since then, The Telegraph has reported that Communities Minister Michael Gove may block Khan’s decision to try and get 4x4s over to Ukraine instead of being scrapped, though this is yet to be confirmed.
