‘I can’t afford to visit lonely friends in care homes’: What Ulez means for Telegraph readers

If Sadiq Khan had hoped for a smooth rollout of his expanded ultra-low emission zone (Ulez) across Greater London on Tuesday, he was in for a rude awakening.

Protests and a nascent campaign of vigilante vandals have set the tone in the days since, with scores of cameras used to enforce the scheme sabotaged^[1], painted red, covered in foam, or otherwise obscured. 

While the mayor has continued to defend the Ulez expansion – which imposes a £12.50-a-day fee for vehicles that don’t meet minimum emissions standards – opposition has only intensified as the price of Ulez-compliant vehicles soars. 

Turbocharged by demand, the cost of used cars^[2] that meet the new standards now far outstrips the mayor’s £2,000-a-car scrappage scheme.

The inescapable consequence has been that, on the streets of the capital and beyond, a vast swathe of ordinary people are having their lives made worse^[3], as Telegraph readers have made clear.

One of the most concerning effects of Ulez – which now includes all of London’s boroughs – is loneliness. Flora Powell, an 82-year-old retiree from Surbiton, south west London, used to drive her 2005-registered diesel car to visit family and friends in Surrey. “There is no way I will now be able to drive to my daughter in Kingswood, nor can I visit old friends in care homes in Betchworth or Purley who have no relatives,” she explains. “I would have to cross Greater London. The problem is that we don’t have the public transport necessary to get to our destination, other than going into London, and nor do I have the money to buy another car.”

Dan Tranter, a blue badge-holding retiree, drives a 2011-reg diesel Jaguar XJ. He and his wife regularly drove from their home near Daventry, in Northamptonshire, to visit their daughter and her family in Beckenham, south London. “We normally go for a long weekend from Friday to Monday, but that would now cost us an extra £50,” he says. “On teachers’ pensions and paying over £600 a year on car tax we cannot do it. I simply cannot manage the journey on public transport. The changes, the walking and the length of time would be too much and I could not carry my luggage as I use two hiking poles to aid my walking.”

Recently-separated father-of-two Kevin Wilson also fears he will not be able to see his children any more. Owing to his separation and its effect on his disposable income, he can only afford a non-compliant car and has to drive half a mile inside Ulez to New Malden, south west London, every two weekends to pick up and drop off his children at his ex-partner’s address. 

“This will either cost me £25 every other weekend – which I cannot afford – or my children will have to walk down a busy road to meet me outside the zone,” he says. “They are aged eight and 12. I cannot afford to pay them for bus or train fares. Thanks to this policy, the inevitable outcome is that I will not be able to see my children every other weekend.”

Others are also finding their childcare responsibilities have been made more difficult. Lester Mutton lives outside the zone and bought a seven-seater car in 2021 to assist his son, a single father of four children from Feltham, west London, who cannot afford his own car. “It now costs me £12.50 to travel the two miles inside the zone to help him,” he says. “But I will not be selling the car and will continue to pay for the privilege of polluting the atmosphere. I am furious that a mayor can cause such financial worry to low-income families. What right does the mayor have to dictate to me what I drive?”

By contrast, fellow Londoner Ben Lambert has decided to sell up, getting rid of his non-compliant Mercedes B-class for just £5,500 and spending just shy of £20,000 on its replacement. “This is money we do not have but had to spend because we need to drive our daughter, who is on the autistic spectrum, to school and you cannot get there on public transport,” he says. “It is so insulting when Mayor Khan characterises those who oppose Ulez as in league with Covid deniers and the far-Right. My father died of Covid last year and I would have had no quarrel with Ulez had motorists been given two or three years to prepare.”

The West Park Lodge Hotel in Hadley Wood, north London, is just 50 yards inside the northern boundary of Ulez. Andrew Beale, its managing director, bemoans that “every customer and all 100 staff have to pay if they have a non-compliant vehicle”. Twenty employees have had to upgrade their non-compliant cars and those without who work night shifts will be charged twice^[6], once when they turn up the night before and again when they leave the next morning. “Guests are already telling us they won’t be coming back because of this ridiculous and awful Ulez,” Andrew says. “If I had the time and the money, I would happily sue Mr Khan for the loss of revenue^[7] and jobs that his policy will undoubtedly lead to.”

Others are also finding their recreational lives restricted. Peter Hall, from Teddington, south west London, travels to his sailing boat on the Solent most weekends. “My car is a 2013 diesel which is fantastic for motorway miles and I cannot afford a like-for-like replacement,” he says. “I have to carry a lot of equipment to that boat for maintenance and therefore public transport is not an option. Within London I am literally only driving the three miles to the motorway but it would appear I now have to pay £25 for a weekend’s sailing, or £1,300 a year. Once the cost of living crisis has eased we will look to move further out and avoid London where possible.”

Similarly, Kirsty Free, from Upminster, east London, keeps a veteran pony a mile inside the Ulez border and drives him to the vet and out for rides in the Essex countryside using a diesel truck. “It is impractical to take him by bus,” she says drily. “I incur a charge because my vehicle is a year older than the Ulez threshold allows. I am not driving into London. I am driving from Essex into deepest Essex, or further, each time I use it, so how am I polluting the air in London? It is grossly unfair to penalise people because of where they live and the transport that they can use for practical purposes or can afford.”

The ultimate riposte to an unjust system, perhaps, is to follow its rules to the letter, as Steve Heath has decided to do. “When taking the family to London for the day, I have always driven to Stanmore and parked up at the station to catch the Tube to central London,” he says. “Now I will have to pay the Ulez charge for the less than one-mile journey from the A5 to the station car park. There is no point doing this any more, so instead of staying out of London and using the Tube, I will now just drive in.” It is a novel way to prove his point.

References

1. ^{^} cameras used to enforce the scheme sabotaged (www.telegraph.co.uk)
2. ^{^} the cost of used cars (www.telegraph.co.uk)
3. ^{^} having their lives made worse (www.telegraph.co.uk)
4. ^{^} 1803 ulez postcode map (cf-particle-html.eip.telegraph.co.uk)
5. ^{^} Telegraph ulez calculator (cf-particle-html.eip.telegraph.co.uk)
6. ^{^} who work night shifts will be charged twice (www.telegraph.co.uk)
7. ^{^} the loss of revenue (www.telegraph.co.uk)
8. ^{^} Should Sadiq Khan scrap the new Ulez expansion? (cf-particle-html.eip.telegraph.co.uk)