MPs, Motorists, & Bizs Want Khan’s ULEZ Expansion Scrapped

ULEZ Expansion – This ill-thought-out plan is simply an easy cash grab by a virtue signalling debt ridden Mayor

On the final day of TfL’s consultation, motoring groups and MPs call on Sadiq Khan to scrap his unpopular ULEZ expansion plan

The spectre of paying £500 per month to light and heat our homes is now more than real in a cost-of-living crisis that grows each and every day. Yet the egocentric London Mayor (and other taxpayer funded UK City Mayors who seem to follow the Capital’s pied piper) is hell bent in wanting to hustle even more money out of the pockets of stressed families, drivers, visitors, workers, patients, small businesses, all needing and wishing to drive into Greater London.

• The London Mayor’s autonomous plan to expand the existing Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) to cover Greater London, and its Consultation process for this project finishes Friday July 29th.
• More than 5000 (and still counting) supporters of the FairFuelUK Campaign in just 48hrs, along with the Alliance of British Drivers, between 24th-26th July, have emailed TfL expressing their fervent opposition to the Mayor’s ULEZ Expansion.

What MPs and Key Influencers Say

Penny Mordaunt MP said: “This is likely to have a disproportionately negative impact on those in the outer boroughs, and on businesses in places nearby, like those in Portsmouth. This is poor timing given the pressures small firms and families are under.”

Robert Halfon MP said: “This would be yet another tax for hardworking motorists in greater and outer London. It will be a hammer blow my Harlow constituents many of them are van drivers who have to travel to Greater London every day. Instead of assaulting working people with extra costs, the Mayor should be trying to cut the cost of living.”

Gareth Bacon MP said in his Tweet: “Transport for London’s own assessment finds that expanding ULEZ will have little to no effect on to air pollution levels in Greater London. It will also have a negligible effect on carbon emissions. It’s about raising money, not about cleaner air.”

Richard Tice, Reform Party Leader and Broadcaster said: “We must cut taxes to cut the cost of living and create growth but instead Comrade Khan is impoverishing the poorest & the lowest paid. Disgraceful”

Howard Cox, Founder of the much-respected FairFuelUK Campaign says: “Most rational people, all across the UK are baffled how one man can have the singular power, via his left wing idealistic ill-informed green agenda, be allowed to even contemplate punishing London’s drivers yet more so. It is proven* that expanding the cash grabbing ULEZ further will have a negligible reduction, if any, on roadside emissions. His own data tells him, this is the case. This ill-thought-out plan is simply an easy cash grab by a virtue signalling myopic, to pay off the massive debts he has accumulated for his own political intentions. All as per usual, at the inevitable expense of already high taxed and demonised drivers.”

Duncan White, Director of the Alliance of British Drivers said: “Whilst ULEZ currently affects mainly older diesels or petrol vehicles, do not be fooled into thinking this will last. As soon as the system is in place there will inevitably be moves to tighten the rules. Your compliant car could soon be the next target of daily charges. Indeed, we expect all petrol and diesel cars to eventually be included. “Do not assume this is just a London issue. Mayors and councils all over the country are closely watching this scheme with eager eyes”.

Ian Churchlow, Vice Chairman on the Motorcycle Action Group said: “The extension of the ULEZ in London is the expansion of a regressive tax that disproportionally affects the least well off in society. Motorcyclist’s contribution to London’s emissions is negligible yet we are being penalized for helping to reduce congestion. Every motorcycle used instead of a car reduces congestion and improves travel times for all road users.”

Lance Forman, Owner of H. Forman & Son Smoked Salmon said: “Like many small businesses making deliveries to customers, first we had to face the congestion charge and then the ULEZ charge. These charges are bad for business, pushing up their costs and ultimately prices for their customers. Extending the reach as Khan is now doing, shows he doesn’t care about inflation, doesn’t care about business and doesn’t care about the cost of living. This is not the time or the place.”

• *See Sadiq Khan in denial, when questioned on this policy plan in his own Assembly that the ULEZ expansion will have little or any effect on lowering emissions. https://twitter.com/i/status/1551961525509914636
• See more than100 comments, from a selection of thousands of messages, sent to TfL and Sadiq Khan by the UK public (not just from Londoners) between 24th – 26th July 2022.
• They can be seen at https://fairfueluk.com/ULEZ_Comments_July_2022.pdf

Here are just 5 of those public messages to Sadiq Khan:

1. I am disabled and can only afford to use my car for shopping as it is. I have no social life whatsoever because of the cost of motoring. You see us as an easy way to raise money. We see it as removing our choice of freedom.
2. I will no longer be able to visit friends, family and to shop in Greater London. Public Transport is not conducive to the places I visit and also makes the journey so very long and costlier. Imagine an elderly person trying to carry 5, or 6 bags of heavy shopping, or boxes of goods around the streets and getting it all on and off several buses and trains. Then carry those bags/boxes for the extra 15 minutes’ walk from the nearest public transport to home.
3. My mother-in-law lives in Bexleyheath she is 91 years of age my wife drives into Bexleyheath most days to go shopping for her and to help her. We will not be able to afford to visit her so she will be left on her own who will look after her. The government is behind this too. The Consultation which is organised by TfL is very biased to bringing this charge in. If this country wants civil unrest, I suggest they carry on down this route. I pay my road tax so should be able to drive where I want.
4. If the mayor was serious about reducing congestion, he would be imposing measures on industry that makes up a huge percentage of the pollution in cities rather than targeting motorists who are already taxed beyond sensible measures with VAT, fuel duty AND VED.
5. It is time to stop this Parasitic practice to cripple not just Londoners but the Whole Country. We already contribute enough paying Road Tax, A portion of our Council Tax to Highways, Residents Parking and extra Climate Change when parking outside our own zone. Start charging the cyclists whom he favours so much as they take more than their share of the roads even though they have a dedicated lane they constantly abuse it and appear to that traffic lights were there to be ignored. It is clearly Mr Kahn’s intention is to Cripple London by example then the whole Country.