A South London man may have to spend £20,000 upgrading his van before the upcoming ULEZ expansion, calling the scheme the “biggest attack” on small businesses in 40 years. 

Rod Reed, 64, is a landscape gardener who has lived in Beckenham, Bromley, most of his life.

The business owner said he has previously spent thousands of pounds upgrading his company van to meet emission standards in 2012.

But updated Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) regulations have since meant Mr Reed may have to replace his van again in order to avoid paying £12.50 a day.

He said: “That’s the one that I spent £20,000 on in 2012 to comply… when I bought the van in 2012, it was supposed to comply not only with the ULEZ at that point, but the forthcoming [scheme too].”

Mr Reed said the due date to replace his personal car and company van is “imminent”, with the ULEZ expansion scheduled for August this year.

He said: “I’ve got two vehicles that wouldn’t wouldn’t be compliant. So potentially, that could be another £6,000 a year if you’re using those vehicles every day.”

Mr Reed is worried how the ULEZ expansion will affect customers and staff for local shops.

The local said: “It’s the biggest attack on small businesses over those 40 years. I’ve seen a lot of challenges. It’s worse than the recession.”

Mr Reed  is pushing for other options to reduce pollution. Research from the University of Surrey, among others, showed that planting hedges on the side of roads could cut carbon emissions by up to 63per cent.

“Everybody wants cleaner air, who wouldn’t? But the question is method… If you start creating corridors [of hedges] along busy roads, you’ll be soaking up to 63pc of the pollution.

"The [Royal Horticultural Society] did some research on this as well, so that supports Surrey University, Leicester University and the Nature Conservancy in America.

"If you put it all together, you’ve got this very environmentally friendly way of soaking up pollution.”

Mr Reed said he is unsure whether enough information was given during the ULEZ consultation for it to be properly considered, as is required by the Local Government Association.

He said: “The carbon capture aspect hasn’t been put down, and this is one of the problems.

"You need proper full information and conscientious consideration of all the issues so the public are fully informed, but I don’t think the public has been fully informed on all the options.”

A Mayor of London spokesperson said that an independent consultancy firm was used to put together the final analysis of the ULEZ consultation, and that any suggestion that the mayor sought to influence the results of the consultation was untrue.

According to the Mayor of London, 85pc of drivers in outer London already have vehicles that are compliant with the ULEZ expansion.

A £110million vehicle scrappage scheme was also announced on January 30 to encourage drivers who still need to replace their cars or vans.

Bromley Council announced on February 2 that it planned to oppose the ULEZ expansion in court, in a statement from a coalition with Bexley, Harrow and Hillingdon councils.

It said: “Bexley, Bromley, Harrow and Hillingdon will not sign the Section 8 agreement with TfL while legal advice is being taken.”

Conservative Councillor Colin Smith, leader of Bromley Council, said in a statement on the ULEZ expansion: “The decision to blatantly ignore a significant majority opinion of Londoners who responded to TfL’s consultation exercise, based on the highly questionable, selective and incomplete findings of a research paper commissioned by TfL themselves, simply cannot be allowed to pass unchallenged.”

A spokesperson for the Mayor of London said: “The Mayor has been clear that it was not an easy decision to expand the Ultra Low Emission Zone London-wide but a necessary one to reduce the capital’s toxic air pollution, tackle the climate emergency and cut congestion in our city.

"Around 4,000 Londoners die prematurely each year due to the toxic air in our city with the greatest number of deaths attributable to air pollution in London’s outer boroughs, which the ULEZ doesn’t currently cover.

"Children across London are growing up with stunted lungs while adults have greater risk of heart disease, dementia and other serious illnesses.

“Since 2016 the Mayor has funded the planting of over 430,000 trees across London, but much more must be done to meaningfully tackle the crisis of toxic air in our city.

"The ULEZ is a targeted scheme and proven to be effective – reducing toxic air pollution by nearly half in central London.

"Expanding the ULEZ London-wide will mean 5 million more people are able to breathe cleaner air.”