ULEZ: How many car drivers will have to pay the charge? We went in search of polluting cars

More charges for driving polluting vehicles in London are supported by many but also attracted vocal criticism - and there seems to be confusion about who will have to pay the £12.50 daily charge. LondonWorld went in search of the polluting vehicles.

The expanded Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) comes into force on August 29, meaning it will cover almost all of Greater London. It is part of London mayor Sadiq Khan’s plan to clean up the city’s air and ”to save lives”.

Most vehicles are exempt from the charge because they meet emissions standards, and it is easy to check whether your vehicle is compliant by simply inputting the registration on Transport for London’s (TfL) website.

What are the ULEZ emission standards?

To comply with ULEZ, and avoid the charge, vehicles must meet the required Euro emissions standard for the vehicle and emission type. For newer vehicles, the Euro emissions standard may be listed in section D.2 of vehicle log books (V5C).

The ULEZ standards are:

• Euro 3 for motorcycles, mopeds, motorised tricycles and quadricycles (L category)
• Euro 4 (NOx) for petrol cars, vans, minibuses and other specialist vehicles
• Euro 6 (NOx and PM) for diesel cars, vans and minibuses and other specialist vehicles

How many drivers have to pay the ULEZ £12.50 charge?

LondonWorld went out on the streets around Penge and Anerley in Bromley, which will be within the new ULEZ zone, to look for private cars that would be charged.

Of 100 we checked against the TfL vehicle reg search, six were not compliant and one was ‘unknown’.

One vehicle we found was a Citroën Xsara, which went out of production in 2006, so it should be eligible for the scrappage scheme.

This 6% figure we found matches up with the mayor’s office’s estimate of nine in 10 cars in outer London being compliant.

The mayor’s office also says nearly eight in 10 vans seen driving in outer London on an average day meeting the ULEZ standards.

Non-compliant vans we found included an old Peugeot Partner and an old diesel Citroën.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan

A spokesperson for the Mayor of London said this week: “The Mayor has always been clear that expanding the ULEZ to the whole of London was a difficult decision, and not one he took lightly – but he is not prepared to stand by while around 4,000 Londoners die prematurely each year due to air pollution, children are growing up with stunted lungs and thousands of people in our city are developing life-changing illnesses, such as cancer, lung disease, dementia and asthma.

“Nine out of 10 cars seen driving in outer London on an average day are already ULEZ compliant and do not have to pay the charge. For drivers of the most polluting vehicles, Sadiq has announced TfL is making major changes to the scrappage scheme from next Monday, to make every Londoner with a non-compliant car eligible for support.

“The mayor urges people to apply as quickly as possible once they become eligible for scrappage funding on August 21. He also continues to call on government to fund a national scrappage scheme or provide additional funding to London as it has done for other cities implementing Clean Air Zones, including Birmingham, Bristol and Portsmouth.”

ULEZ scrappage scheme

From Monday (August 21), Londoners with non-compliant cars will be able to claim £2,000 when getting a vehicle scrapped, following an announcement by Mr Khan earlier this month.

Scrappage payments for vans are increasing from £5,000 to £7,000, and small businesses and sole traders will be able to scrap three vans or minibuses in addition to increasing retrofit payments from £5,000 to £6,000.