Protesters take to busy Bromley street in protest of ULEZ expansion

On Saturday (August 12), anti-ULEZ campaigners took to the junction between Kentish Way and Widmore Road in Bromley to protest the planned ULEZ expansion.

From August 29, the ULEZ zone will be extended to include outer London boroughs, including Bromley and Bexley.

This will mean that residents in Bromley and Bexley will be required to pay a daily fee of £12.50 if driving a non-compliant vehicle.

A ULEZ protester in Bromley (Image: Emily Davison)

Bromley-based ULEZ protester Nick Arlett described the ULEZ expansion as “unjustifiable” and said the expansion would “isolate” people in the community.

Nick said: “We’re fighting for our freedom on the roads.

“It's not just about ULEZ, this is about pay per mile, every restriction that is being put on the motorists.

“If you've got £12.50 a day, it's one thing.

“But if you don't have it, which personally I don't, I will be stuck indoors, like thousands of people that will be isolated in their homes, thanks to a totally unjustifiable bit of legislation that is being brought in.”

ULEZ protester (Image: Emily Davison)

Sadiq Khan’s decision to extend into outer London has not been met favourably by everyone in the borough.

Bromley, along with four other outer London councils, took legal action against Sadiq Khan’s decision to expand the ULEZ across Greater London.

However on July 28 a High Court judge confirmed that the ULEZ expansion would go ahead, after determining that there was no legal impediment to the ULEZ expansion to outer London.

Kingsley Hamilton, member of Action Against Unfair ULEZ, said: “Public transport's not fantastic, we don't think ULEZ is needed out here.

“The general feeling from people is that Sadiq Khan is still not listening. He's not listening to members of the public, he's not listening to his own colleagues in his own party, he's not listening to opposition parties, he's not listening to anybody.

“The inner London ULEZ and the middle one was subject to positive consultation.

“The outer ULEZ was not subject to positive consultation.

“In fact, it was massively negative and he's just not listening.

“He didn't even put it in his manifesto, and that's why people have got a problem with it.

“People are in a situation, they cannot afford to buy a replacement car that's compliant.

“There are indeed not enough compliant cars around to buy.”

The protest also had support from Londoners in other areas outside of Bromley, including Peter Soothit from Kentish Town.

Peter described the potential impacts that he says ULEZ would have on disabled people and their Peter said: “It's not going to affect me directly because my car is probably compliant for now.

Peter Smoothit (Image: Emily Davison)

“It’s going to affect carers coming in, tradespeople, if I need tradespeople to come in, things like that. It's going to make bills more expensive. Whether you drive or not, it's still going to affect you, this is the thing.

“There's a lot of people with so-called ‘non-compliant’ vehicles - wheelchair accessible vehicles.

“They can't go out and just get a new one off the shelf.

“You can't just go into a showroom and say: ‘Oh, I'll have a new vehicle please’, it doesn't work like that.

“A lot of them have to be built to order, and a lot of them are tailored for the disabled person themselves.

ULEZ protesters took to the junction between Kentish Way and Widmore Road in protest (Image: Emily Davison)

“So it makes more sense, really, to keep the existing vehicles on the road than put new ones on.”

Currently disabled motorists and those with wheelchair accessible private hire vehicles can receive the grace period where they will not be charged the daily ULEZ fee until October 25, 2027.

The Mayor’s Office has confirmed that any vehicle with the disabled vehicle tax will “automatically” receive the grace period without needing to apply.

Disabled people with vehicles without the disabled vehicle tax but that are in receipt of certain disability benefits can register on TFL for the grace period.

Protester holds up a No ULEZ sign (Image: Emily Davison)

Protester Trisha believes that ULEZ will have an impact on everyone, whether their car is compliant or not and also expressed fears that her car that is currently ULEZ compliant may not be in the future.

Trisha said: “This is just the tip of the iceberg.

“My car is compliant, but this is going to affect everybody, even if their cars are compliant.

“Because traders are going to charge more, delivery companies are going to charge more, so everybody's going to pay for this.

“If their car is compliant now, it doesn't mean it will be further down the line when he brings more and more cars into this charge.“ One trader at the protest, who fears his business will be impacted by the upcoming ULEZ expansion, was Bromley-based trader Glen.

The scrappage scheme has been increased from £5,000 from £7,000, with retrofit grants increasing from £5,000 to £6,000.

However, Glen has said that he fears the £12.50 daily charge to run his van, which is currently non-compliant, will deter customers from using his business.

Glen said: “This new charge that's coming in, the expansion, was never implied or put onto the bill.

“I use my van to help out in the community. I try and keep my prices low.

“With this extra £12.50 that I've got to charge if I go into the zone, it means that I might not get a job to help the community with a lower charge for moving their stuff.

“And if I have to not take the charge it makes me out of pocket.”

Some protesters arrived driving vintage vehicles (Image: Emily Davison)

In a statement, the spokesperson for the Mayor of London said that the decision to expand ULEZ into outer London was a “difficult decision” and he has “continued” to listen to the concerns of Londoners affected by the cost-of-living crisis.

A spokesperson for the Mayor of London, said: “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 ten cars seen driving in outer London on an average day are already ULEZ compliant and their drivers will not have to pay the charge.  “However the Mayor knows how much the cost of living crisis is affecting all Londoners and he has continued to listen to people’s concerns.

“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 Londoners with a non-compliant car eligible for support. He has also doubled the grants for wheelchair accessible vehicles and increased scrappage payments and retrofit grants for vans.

“The Mayor 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.”