How drivers could be stung TWICE by the ULEZ charge in one 24-hour period

Motorists driving through London at night will have to pay twice the ULEZ charge for a single journey.

Parents collecting their teenage children from late night activities, people rushing to hospital late at night and workers working the late shift will have to pay the £12.50 twice if their journey starts before midnight and ends the following day.

This means motorists driving non-compliant cars will have to pay £25 for a journey of just ten minutes, if they depart at 11:55 pm one night and return home at 00:05 am the next morning.

TfL rules say, ‘A daily charge runs from midnight to midnight. If you drive within the ULEZ area for two days, for example before midnight and after midnight, you have to pay two daily allowances.’

This is because Sadiq Khan plans to expand the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) to all 32 London boroughs from August 29 this year, requiring drivers to pay a daily fee of £12.50 if their cars fail to comply. meet the emission standards.

Sadiq Khan’s much-maligned Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) will be expanded to all 32 London boroughs from August 29 this year

From the end of August, the daily ULEZ charge, which runs from midnight to midnight every day, will cover areas as far afield as Heathrow Airport, Chingford and Sutton in an effort to improve air quality in the city.

TfL hopes that by reducing the number of non-compliant cars in London, air pollution in the British capital will be further reduced.

But expanding the ULEZ zone could only prevent a maximum of one case of lung cancer per year, according to a study commissioned by TfL.

A 197-page document used to justify Sadiq Khan’s controversial decision to expand the hated scheme, which began in 2019, acknowledged that the impact on cancer rates would specifically be “nominal.”

Work strikes and strikes across London’s underground and rail networks have resulted in night workers being forced to use their cars to get to their shifts, as public transport is often unavailable after 7pm around strike dates.

So those who start late and finish early, such as bar staff and night workers in the public sector, such as doctors and nurses, will be forced to pay double the expensive fee to do their job.

The Night Time Industries Association has said 58,000 are at risk of being charged twice in one shift under the ULEZ, The morning advertiser reports.

Chief executive Michael Kill said the impact on nighttime workers could be “quite significant” and urged the mayor to review the plan so that it spans a 24-hour period that doesn’t penalize those who travel at night.

He added that the indictment “has exposed thousands of night workers to disproportionate extra costs for night work.”

Mr Kill added that this could hurt the overnight economy as companies struggle to recruit workers who will see their wages plummeted by hefty daily rates.

The mayor’s office disputed the figures, saying there are only 540,000 night workers in London and only a small proportion of those will drive to work in the expanded ULEZ areas.

About a tenth of all cars in London do not meet ULEZ restrictions and would face the daily charge.

And drivers in London’s suburbs, soon to pay the fee, will have even fewer ways to get around due to a lack of decent public transport links between the different areas, according to a report last week.

Millions of Londoners will ignore the ULEZ as it expands into London’s suburbs and continue to use their cars because public transport is so unreliable, the report said.

A lack of sustainable transport options in the corners of the capital, such as trains, buses and well-maintained sidewalks and bicycle routes, forces people to keep their cars for short trips.

The report from the Center for London (CfL) think tank found that twice as many journeys are made by car in the suburbs of London than in central London: 38 per cent versus 19 per cent of journeys.

The research also claimed that more than half of car journeys in London’s suburbs are less than two miles, leading to climate change, air pollution and congestion on London’s busy roads.

Sadiq Khan (pictured) plans to expand the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) to all 32 London boroughs from August 29 this year, with drivers paying a daily fee of £12.50 if their car is not up to date. meets the emission standards

From the end of August, the daily ULEZ charge, which runs from midnight to midnight every day, will cover areas as far afield as Heathrow Airport, Chingford and Sutton in an effort to improve air quality in the city

The ULEZ expansion comes amid a wider war on motorists in Sadiq Khan’s London, with 100 kilometers of cycle lanes, LTNs causing chaos and parking lots being gobbled up by parks.

Miles of new bike lanes built since the coronavirus pandemic have helped make London the most congested city in the world, a 2021 study claimed.

In January 2021, the Supreme Court ruled that the mayor’s guidelines to promote the expansion of bicycle schemes were “irrational” and illegal because they failed to secure road access for taxis and the disabled.

The judge said authorities “took advantage of the pandemic” to turn parts of London into car-free zones.

And critics have said the measures also block emergency vehicles and have caused problems for local businesses in towns and cities across the UK.

Suggestions have also been made to narrow the space for cars, increasing congestion while many bike lanes are empty.

A spokesman for the Mayor of London said: ‘The Mayor has been clear that the decision to extend the ultra-low emission zone across London was not an easy one, but it was necessary to tackle toxic air pollution.

‘Each year around 4,000 Londoners die prematurely from air pollution, children grow up with stunted lungs and thousands of people in our city develop life-changing diseases, such as cancer, lung disease, dementia and asthma.

‘The ULEZ is a very targeted scheme – nine out of ten cars driving in the London suburbs are already ULEZ compliant and do not have to pay the charge. The mayor has introduced a £110 million scrapping scheme to help eligible Londoners, including those on low incomes, replace their old, polluting vehicles.

“After listening to feedback from Londoners, the Mayor this month extended the eligibility for the scrappage scheme to tens of thousands of Londoners from the end of July, including all those on child benefit and small businesses and charities in the capital.”

A TfL spokesperson said: ‘London has made significant progress in improving air quality in recent years, but unfortunately around 4,000 Londoners die prematurely each year due to toxic air. Children grow up with stunted lungs and thousands of people in our city develop life-changing diseases, such as cancer, lung disease, dementia and asthma. London’s ULEZ is vital in tackling the triple challenges of air pollution, the climate crisis and traffic congestion.

“The integrated impact assessment published by Jacobs looked at the impact of the expanded zone on those working nights and the report formed part of the mayor’s decision in considering expanding the zone. We are already seeing that 90 per cent of the cars driving in the London suburbs on an average day are compliant and we expect these numbers to be even higher when the program goes live, which means probably only a very small number of night workers who drive affected.

To help those affected, the Mayor is committed to further improving public transport in London’s suburbs and launched London’s largest-ever demolition scheme worth £110 million. The scheme supports smaller businesses, sole proprietors, charities, lower-income Londoners and disabled Londoners in replacing their older, more polluting vehicles with greener options.

From the end of July, the scheme will be extended to hundreds of thousands more Londoners, including those on child benefit and London-based companies with up to 50 employees. The scrapping scheme takes some of the dirtiest vehicles off the road, resulting in better air quality for everyone. You don’t have to buy a brand new vehicle to meet the standards.’