Sadiq Khan’s plans for a London car crackdown could be blocked by a legal challenge after it was revealed his officials secretly ordered hundreds of security cameras before the public voted against ULEZ.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s car crackdown could be blocked by a legal challenge after it emerged his officials secretly ordered hundreds of security cameras before the public voted to reject the project.
Khan was accused of a “bogus inquiry” and of ignoring strong opposition to the expansion of the Ultra Low Emission Zone (Ulez).
Non-compliant vehicle owners are charged £12.50 per day to drive in the clean air zone, which currently includes all areas within the north and south circular roads.
Khan plans to expand this to Greater London this year to cover a further five million people, some 200,000 of whom own non-compliant vehicles. These are typically pre-2005 gasoline cars and pre-Sep 2015 diesel vehicles.
Transport for London (TfL) asked the public if they backed the plan in May 2022 during a ten-week consultation. Then, in November, Mr Khan of the Labor Party said he was going ahead with the plan, despite 59 per cent opposing it.
Now, documents obtained under freedom of information laws reveal how TfL began ordering hundreds of license plate reading cameras required for the scheme in April 2022, a month before the public was asked to give their opinion. This document understands that the order was worth up to £15 million.
Khan was charged with a “false inquiry” and ignoring strong opposition to expanding the Ultra Low Emissions Zone.
Shaun Bailey, a former Tory London mayoral candidate, said: “This is categorical proof that the mayor prejudged the outcome of the consultation.” He had no intention of listening to Londoners. Khan was accused earlier this year of rigging the poll after more than 5,200 votes from the FairFuelUK motoring campaign were thrown out.
Howard Cox, founder of FairFuelUK, said: ‘We now know it bought millions of pounds of vehicle registration cameras before the consultation even started. It is clear that by this action alone, the mayor did not have a genuine intention to adhere to the outcome of the consultation process. Shamefully, he has trampled on the majority opinion.
The Conservative districts of Bexley, Bromley, Harrow and Hillingdon, as well as Surrey County Council, have asked the High Court to block Ulez’s plan.
TfL sources do not believe details of when the cameras were ordered could be included in the tips case, but could form the basis of a new legal challenge.
Bailey said: “Londoners would be shocked if there wasn’t a judicial review of the project now.”
TfL expects the total cost of the Ulez expansion to be up to £140m.
TfL said: ‘As components had long lead times and our duty to achieve value for money, we placed cancellable orders last April after the mayor announced there would be a consultation on Ulez.
“This did not predetermine the mayor’s decision to expand Ulez, as the orders would have been canceled or the equipment would have been used for other projects or sold to other organizations.”
