Transport for London (TfL) has launched a new scrappage scheme aimed at helping Londoners on low incomes or disability benefits scrap older, polluting vehicles, in advance of the expansion of the ULEZ from 29 August.
The aim of the zone is to improve London’s air quality as the Greater London Authority (GLA) calculates that around 4,000 Londoners die prematurely each year due to toxic air. In February 2023, the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said the majority of those deaths were attributable to air pollution in London’s outer boroughs.

Scrappage sweeteners

The £110m scrappage scheme will be used to take vehicles that comply with older emissions standards off the roads, with grants of up to £5,000 on offer to avoid a daily fee of £12.50 for driving a non-compliant vehicle in the zone. Vehicles covered are Euro 3 motorcycles, Euro 4 (NOx) petrol vehicles and Euro 6 (NOx and PM) diesel vehicles.

Will this incentive soften the criticism towards the ULEZ expansion? It’s not without its opponents, as authorities bordering London – including Hertfordshire, Essex and Buckinghamshire – object to the plan. Some outer London boroughs have also declared that they will fight the expansion plan.

TfL will enforce the expanded scheme by installing 2,750 CCTV cameras. Around two-thirds of the ANPR cameras will be sited on traffic lights, which don’t require the consent of boroughs. The remaining cameras may need to be installed on new posts or structures, and TfL expects to spend £160m on new infrastructure – including new road signs – and a public information campaign.

How will this be funded? RAC analysis suggests that from an average of 1.9 million monthly journeys made into the zone by non-conforming vehicles in an eight-month period from November 2021 to June 2022, £112.5m was raised in revenue. So that’s a start.

A chain reaction

One potential side-effect of the scheme announcement is the shortage of suitable replacement vehicles. Research from Auto Trader in February found just 5,150 ULEZ-compliant cars below £5,000 were for sale in London. It also found that the average cost of a compliant used diesel car is £19,991, while a petrol-engined car costs £15,000 and a used electric vehicle is £36,102.

As Steve Gooding of the RAC Foundation tells us: “Using financial levers to deliver change inevitably comes with an element of financial pain; pain that tends to be felt most acutely by those already on the tightest budgets. In this instance, the financial pain is also likely to pinch hardest on those at the fringes of the capital, not Londoners, and not part of the London electorate, but who might routinely be crossing the greater London boundary and now find themselves faced with a hefty price if they’re in a non-compliant vehicle.

"While van-based businesses running older fleets may seek to pass the ULEZ costs onto their customers, private citizens with older cars – not that old, for diesels – will be forced to take a hit on trade-in value or foot the daily bill themselves, without the benefit of any assistance from the Mayor, such as the scrappage scheme open only to London residents.”

First steps into road pricing

The TfL scrappage scheme may be insufficient to take all the polluting cars off the road, but it is merely the first step on the path to smart road charging.

A spokesperson for the Mayor of London says: "TfL has outlined how one future option could abolish existing charges and replace them with a single, simpler road user charging scheme. However, the technology required is still many years away."

New to road pricing concepts? Listen back to the CIHT podcast on road pricing featuring CIHT member Alistair Hunter, Highways Business Leader for Arup’s UKIMEA region, and Patrick Andison, Senior Economics Consultant at Arup or speed read their five key trends in road pricing.

Words by Craig Thomas