A legal challenge has been launched in an attempt to block Sadiq Khan’s plans for his ULEZ expansion after a Freedom of Information request revealed his officials purchased hundreds of enforcement cameras before public voted against his ULEZ expansion in a consultation.
The order clearly casts huge amounts of doubt that the consultation was ever going to be listened to, although did we really need more proof of that given around two in three consultation respondents already said they didn’t want the expansion to go ahead.
Shaun Bailey, a former Tory London mayoral candidate, said: ‘It is categoric proof the Mayor pre-judged the outcome of the consultation. He had no intention of listening to Londoners.’
The documents reveal that TfL began ordering number-plate-reading cameras required for the scheme in April 2022 – a month before the public consultation began at a cost of around £15 million.
Mr Khan was accused earlier this year of manipulating the consultation after it emerged more than 5,200 votes from the FairFuelUK motoring campaign had been discounted.
Howard Cox, founder of FairFuelUK, said: ‘We now learn he purchased millions of pounds of vehicle registration cameras before the consultation even started. It’s clear with this action alone, the Mayor had no genuine intention to adhere to the result of the consultation process. Shamefully, he has ridden roughshod over majority opinion.’
The expansion of ULEZ to cover Greater London will mean an additional five million more people, some 200,000 of them owning non-compliant vehicles, will have to pay the £12.50 daily charge for using their vehicle in the zone.