New figures have revealed that only a third of Londoners who asked Transport for London (TfL) for help to scrap their car ahead of ULEZ expansion have received a pay-out.
According to TfL, it has received a total of 16,089 applications but only made 5,348 payments. That means just a third of Londoners who have applied for a scrappage grant under TfL's scheme for low-income and disabled Londoners have received help.
ULEZ is due to expand on the 25 October 2021 to an area 18 times the size of the existing zone. TfL estimates that 20 per cent of vehicles in the expanded zone are not compliant, with 100,000 cars, 35,000 vans, and 3,000 lorries expected to be hit by the charge each day.
City Hall Tories have called on the Mayor to invest £50 million in ULEZ scrappage schemes to help Londoners switch to cleaner vehicles and avoid the charge.
Peter Fortune AM, Deputy Leader of the GLA Conservatives, commented: "Many Londoners need help to scrap their older vehicles and avoid the ULEZ charge. But, these disappointing figures show that the Mayor's inadequate scrappage scheme can’t keep up with demand. Less than a third of applicants have received help and TfL has rejected 8,540 applications. Unless Khan adopts our plan to offer £50 million in new scrappage grants, he will leave low-income and disabled Londoners with no lifeline as ULEZ expands.
“With an estimated 140,000 polluting vehicles on London's roads, the Mayor's failure to properly fund TfL’s scrappage schemes is undermining our capital's recovery and efforts to tackle air pollution. The extra £5 million the Mayor has invested in scrappage schemes will barely make a dent. At most it might help Londoners remove 2,500 non-compliant cars, but our plan could help remove ten times as many."
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