Sadiq Khan has launched a fresh war on drivers, warning repeat ULEZ fine dodgers will be made bankrupt as a new clampdown is launched.
The Mayor of London‘s Ultra Low Emission Zone has proven highly controversial since its introduction in 2019 to help cut pollution in the capital.
It sees any drivers across Greater London with vehicles not compliant with European pollution standards slapped with a daily £12.50 charge for travelling through it.
Transport for London (TfL), which the mayor chairs, has now said it will toughen up on a ‘specific group of drivers’ with long-running ULEZ debts.
The transport authority – led by the Labour politician, who has sat in City Hall for eight years – pledged to open ‘bankruptcy proceedings’ against these elusive road users ‘in extreme cases’.
Other penalties could include debtors having to pay off what they owe before selling any property – or taking money directly off someone’s paycheck.
TfL is also trialling changes to the format of penalty charge notices (PCNs) to make them easier to understand and thus incentivise people to pay up.
Non-payment of the ULEZ charge can lead to the issue of one of these traffic offence tickets. The fine can be escalated up to £280 if the notice is ignored.
Sadiq Khan (pictured) has launched a fresh war on drivers, warning repeat ULEZ fine dodgers will be made bankrupt as a new clampdown is launched
The Mayor of London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone (pictured, file photo) has proven highly controversial since its introduction in 2019 to help cut pollution in the capital
Around 94 per cent of ULEZ debt can be attributed to people with a minimum of four outstanding PCNs, according to the transport body.
The total value of unpaid ULEZ PCNs was £789million at the end of the last financial year – three times the £250million owed as of summer 2023.
It highlights the difficulty many Londoners have affording either a new compliant car or ULEZ fines.
It comes after the organisation has already begun using an ‘intelligence-led approach’ to track dodgers down to different addresses.
This has also involved more data sharing with national bodies like the Department for Transport and the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA).
This led to the recovery of a whopping £16.5million in road user charges and the seizure of more than 530 vehicles from January to June, TfL said.
The transport authority has said it ‘continues to ramp up its efforts to deliver stronger enforcement’ of ULEZ fines.
Alex Williams, chief customer and strategy officer at TfL, said: ‘We know that we need bold solutions to tackle the public health crisis and poor air quality in London and ULEZ does just that.’
Some 97 per cent of vehicles driving in London are now compliant, he explained.
It is only ‘a small minority’ of ‘persistent evaders’ who are not being similarly ‘responsible’, he said – but TfL has not forgotten about them.
‘We want to make it clear that if you receive a penalty charge for driving in the zone, you should not ignore it,’ he explained.
‘Your penalty will progress to enforcement agents to recover what you owe, and there is a risk that your vehicle and other items of property will be removed.
‘If you’re ignoring it because you are facing financial difficulties, please instead engage with our staff, who can consider your individual circumstances and work with you.’
Drivers who enter the zone in a non-compliant vehicle are required to pay the daily fee unless they are exempt, such as taxis or transport for disabled people.
Lorries, vans or specialist heavy vehicles, all over 3.5 tonnes and buses, minibuses and coaches, all over five tonnes, are also exempt.
To be compliant and therefore exempt from the charge, most petrol cars must have been first registered after 2005 and most diesel cars after September 2015.
Transport for London (TfL), which the mayor (pictured in May) chairs, has now said it will toughen up on a ‘specific group of drivers’ with long-running ULEZ debts
Failing to pay the charge by midnight on the third day following a journey risks incurring a fine.
ULEZ initially only covered central London, the same area as the congestion charge – but it was extended to the North Circular and South Circular roads in 2021.
The zone was made nearly four times larger in 2023 to cover all of Greater London, an area of more than 580 sq mi, inhabited by some nine million people.
This makes it the world’s biggest pollution charge zone.
High streets in outer London boroughs have been hit financially by the expansion, according to new TfL data from earlier this year.
Spending on the high street fell by 3.4 per cent in the year after ULEZ expanded, compared with a 2.8 per cent fall across inner London.
Barking and Dagenham saw the biggest drop in high street spending, with a decline of 13.25 per cent.
Only eight of London’s 33 local authority areas saw spending increase on the high street after ULEZ was introduced to all London boroughs, the report found.
| London Borough | Change in visitor footfall | Change in worker footfall | Change in store spend | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barking and Dagenham | 4.39% | 10.30% | -13.25% | ||
| Barnet | 0.55% | 7.13% | -5.17% | ||
| Bexley | 2.66% | 7.92% | 0.64% | ||
| Brent | 1.43% | 10.14% | -4.39% | ||
| Bromley | 2.59% | 6.85% | -0.66% | ||
| Croydon | 0.05% | 7.10% | 0.82% | ||
| Ealing | 2.78% | 10.58% | -4.13% | ||
| Enfield | 1.52% | 8.77% | -8.64% | ||
| Harrow | -0.77% | 6.54% | -3.28% | ||
| Havering | 3.23% | 9.39% | -9.86% | ||
| Hillingdon | 3.39% | 17.11% | 1.48% | ||
| Hounslow | 1.75% | 10.51% | 2.97% | ||
| Kingston upon Thames | -1.34% | 1.26% | -6.49% | ||
| Lewisham | 2.23% | 9.05% | 2.75% | ||
| Merton | 2.04% | 9.88% | -2.87% | ||
| Redbridge | 2.42% | 9.05% | 0.41% | ||
| Richmond upon Thames | -0.19% | 5.20% | -6.82% | ||
| Sutton | -0.89% | 2.39% | -4.78% | ||
| Wandsworth | 2.02% | 6.88% | -1.11% |
| London Borough | Change in visitor footfall | Change in worker footfall | Change in store spend | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Camden | -0.68% | 4.26% | -2.00% | ||
| City of London | 0.08% | 15.06% | -4.73% | ||
| Greenwich | 0.99% | 10.72% | -3.55% | ||
| Hackney | 0.41% | 9.70% | -1.26% | ||
| Hammersmith and Fulham | -5.22% | 5.87% | -7.36% | ||
| Haringey | 1.43% | 8.86% | -3.91% | ||
| Islington | -1.85% | 6.73% | 1.27% | ||
| Kensington and Chelsea | -1.14% | 10.11% | -6.86% | ||
| Lambeth | -2.23% | 6.92% | -0.32% | ||
| Newham | 0.43% | 9.84% | -3.06% | ||
| Southwark | -3.24% | 9.81% | 0.84% | ||
| Tower Hamlets | -0.03% | 8.88% | -6.46% | ||
| Waltham Forest | 2.71% | 8.53% | 3.54% | ||
| Westminster | -2.46% | 6.28% | -6.93% |
But Sir Sadiq has remained steadfast the scheme has not impacted retail and has helped to cut pollution levels in the capital.
He said, when the figures were released in March: ‘When I was first elected, evidence showed it would take 193 years to bring London’s air pollution within legal limits if the current efforts continued.
‘However, due to our transformative policies we are now close to achieving it this year.
‘Today’s report shows that ULEZ works, driving down levels of pollution, taking old polluting cars off our roads and bringing cleaner air to millions more Londoners.
‘The decision to expand the ULEZ was not something I took lightly, but this report shows it was the right one for the health of all Londoners.
‘It has been crucial to protect the health of Londoners, support children’s lung growth, and reduce the risk of people developing asthma, lung cancer and a host of other health issues related to air pollution.
‘With boroughs in outer London seeing some of the biggest reductions in harmful emissions and London’s deprived communities also seeing greater benefits, this report shows why expanding ULEZ London-wide was so important.’
A spokesman for the mayor also previously said: ‘Sadiq is proud to be a pro-business Mayor.
Sir Sadiq has previously drawn criticism for his approach to those who have protested ULEZ, after he said in 2023 some were ‘joining hands’ and ‘in coalition’ with far-right groups. Pictured: Anti-ULEZ protest in London in January 2024
‘The overwhelming evidence is that Ulez has not impacted footfall or retail and leisure spending in outer London.’
But critics said the mayor has largely ignored the financial impact on businesses that have seen a decline in sales and footfall since the scheme was expanded.
Keith Prince, the City Hall Conservatives’ transport spokesman, previously told the Telegraph: ‘The Mayor is supposedly comparing these results to a London where the ULEZ scheme didn’t happen, as though we can accurately measure such a thing.
‘How he can say that ULEZ is responsible for London’s air clearing up with a straight face is beyond me – the data relies on maybes, possibilities, assumptions, and straight up fantasy in order to justify a project that is saddling TfL and Londoners with mountains of debt.’
Sir Sadiq has previously drawn criticism for his approach to those who have protested ULEZ.
The Labour politician said in 2023 some were ‘joining hands’ and ‘in coalition’ with far-right groups.
He also said such protests were being ‘weaponised’ by anti-vaccine conspiracy theorists – and that Nazi sympathisers were among the detractors of his policy.
Mr Khan said he was sent a bullet in the post and received an Osman warning, or a threat to life notice, from security services.
It is issued when police believe the individual is in danger of serious harm or death, based on force intelligence – but when there is not enough evidence for arrest.
