Sadiq Khan says this is to protect public health... while Kent motorists say they can't afford the fee and can't afford to replace their vehicle.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00 Now this doesn't look too different from your typical weekday commute from Dartford into
00:07 London except from now on it's going to be really different for certain motorists.
00:11 As from today London's ultra low emission zones have officially expanded to cover all
00:16 of London's boroughs.
00:17 So from now on for someone's car who isn't ULES compliant entering this zone is going
00:22 to cost you £12.50.
00:25 This expansion has meant the area is now encompassing 5 million extra people including many in Kent,
00:32 something Dartford locals spoke out against.
00:34 I think it's bang out of order.
00:37 Sadiq Khan is killing London.
00:39 People will not survive.
00:40 We're in a crisis zone, high inflation, people struggling to eat and now he's expanding
00:46 the ULES.
00:47 I will not pay any fines.
00:49 If they send bailiffs to my door they're not coming in.
00:52 I can understand the charge but it's too much.
00:56 I'm a gas engineer, borough engineer and I work in London most of the time and the vehicle
01:00 that I've got now is barely 10 years old so it falls out of the ULES compliancy.
01:07 So the only alternative is to pay £45,000 to replace my vehicle.
01:14 So effectively I can't work in London anymore, I can't go past Craford actually so my van
01:19 is basically obsolete.
01:22 And he wasn't the only business taking a hit.
01:25 Full Farm on the Bromley-Kent border fears soon they'll start losing volunteers.
01:31 They recently had to get rid of their animal ambulance as the vehicle wasn't ULES compliant.
01:36 Thankfully we've got a very, very loyal supporter base.
01:39 They've been amazing and rallied around and we have now raised enough money to purchase
01:42 a new vehicle.
01:43 One thing that it will really impact is our volunteers.
01:46 We have around 300 people volunteer with us on a regular basis.
01:50 A lot of those people come from Kent and the surrounding area and if they don't have a
01:54 compliant vehicle it's now going to cost them money to come and volunteer which we have
01:59 already been told some of the volunteers aren't going to be able to come anymore because of
02:02 the additional cost.
02:03 The Mayor of London has said the decision to expand the ULES London-wide was a difficult
02:08 one but necessary to save lives, protect children's lungs and help prevent asthma, dementia and
02:16 other health issues.
02:18 It's a brilliant day. My son suffers with asthma and so do I but my son has it particularly
02:24 badly and really suffers from exacerbations on high pollution days and I think that we
02:30 need to call together on central London to fund proper scrappage and proper support for
02:35 those individuals.
02:37 As ULES paves the way for a greener future, will Kent motorists learn to adapt to these
02:42 new road rules or will they continue to fight against it?
02:45 Sophia Akin for KMTV