LONDON—London’s traffic cameras are under attack. Police say hundreds of license plate-reading cameras have been damaged, disconnected or stolen by opponents of an anti-pollution charge on older vehicles that comes into force across the metropolis on Tuesday.
London’s plan, known as the ULEZ, levies a 12.50 pound daily charge on most gas cars and vans built before 2006 and on pre-2015 diesel vehicles. Introduced in central London in 2019, it was expanded in 2021 to the city’s inner suburbs. From Tuesday it covers all of Greater London, including the sprawling outer suburbs where more than half the city’s 9 million people live.
“I have no money to pay the fines, I have no money to replace my car,” said Austen, who joined a recent protest by several dozen ULEZ opponents beside a busy road in south London. Some passing drivers honked loudly when encouraged to “beep for freedom.” Labour was rattled by the Uxbridge result, despite its big lead in opinion polls nationwide. Party leader Keir Starmer urged London’s mayor to “reflect” on the ULEZ expansion. Khan refused to delay, but expanded a scrappage program that offers London residents up to 2,000 pounds to replace old vehicles. Opponents say the money is nowhere near enough.
ULEZ opponents include trade unions and ordinary Londoners, but backers of the plan say some of the protests are being drummed up by extremists. Khan told radio station LBC last week that opposition had been “weaponized” by “people who believed in conspiracy theories.”