TfL issues final call to take advantage of ULEZ scrappage scheme

Transport for London (TfL) has called on any remaining Londoners who wish to use the ULEZ scrappage scheme to submit their applications by midnight on 7 September ahead of its planned closure.

The scheme for the expanded outer London area has now seen more than £186m committed to around 54,000 applicants. This was on top of the £61m for the central and inner London ULEZ, which led to more than 15,000 successful applications. The scheme, which opened in January 2023, was expanded to cover all Londoners in the capital ahead of the launch of the London-wide ULEZ. It has been successful in supporting people to adapt to the clean air zone.

The vast majority of people with older, more polluting vehicles have already taken action and application numbers have dropped sharply in recent weeks.  With compliance levels in London now at over 96 per cent, the scrappage scheme has been successful in achieving its objectives. TfL has seen a 53 per cent reduction in non-compliant vehicles driving on an average day over the six months of expansion compared to June 2023.

With application volumes now considerably lower after more than 18 months of operation, it is proposed that new applicants will have until 23:59 on 7 September to submit their applications. In addition, it is proposed that the grace period for minibuses used by not-for-profit organisations for community transport is extended from October 2025 to October 2027. Grace periods for community transport and disabled Londoners remain open until October 2027.

It is proposed that any funds remaining following the planned closure will be considered for other uses to further the Mayor’s Transport Strategy.

Any application made before the proposed deadline would be guaranteed to be processed and reviewed for eligibility.

Since the scrappage scheme opened over 18 months ago, 53,944 applications have been approved, with £186,089,700 allocated in total. This includes:

• 36,008 Londoners who have had their application approved to scrap their non-compliant car or motorcycle, totalling £69,502,200 in grants.
• 17,936 applications approved to scrap or retrofit a van or minibus, totalling £116,587,500 in grants.

Of these:

• 232 charities had their applications approved, totalling £1,716,500 in grants 
• 17,704 small businesses, including sole traders, have had their applications approved, totalling £114,871,000 in grants.
• These figures include more than 330 vehicles donated to Ukraine.

The expanded ULEZ has helped five million more Londoners to breathe cleaner air and is part of the Mayor and TfL’s wider programme to reduce air pollution and its associated health impacts. In London, around 4,000 premature deaths are attributed to toxic air each year.

The London-wide ULEZ Six Month Report showed its effectiveness in driving down emissions and improving the quality of the capital’s air. Within the outer London ULEZ area, NOx emissions from cars and vans are estimated to be 13 and seven per cent lower than a scenario without the expansion. This is equivalent to removing 200,000 cars from the road for one year. Thanks to all phases of the ULEZ,  roadside NO2 concentrations in outer London are estimated to be 21 per cent lower than without the ULEZ and its expansions.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan said: 

“I am proud that the scrappage scheme – the biggest in the UK – has supported so many Londoners to switch to cleaner, greener vehicles. ULEZ compliance has now reached more than 96 per cent, bringing cleaner air to millions of Londoners.

“I’m also pleased that after the huge success of the Ukraine scheme, I’m planning to provide additional funding so that vehicles can continue to be donated to the country once the scrappage scheme closes. 

“I remain committed to taking world-leading action to improve London’s air quality and encourage sustainable transport.”

Christina Calderato, TfL’s Director of Strategy, added: “The expanded ULEZ has meant that more than five million people are now breathing cleaner air and from the Six Month Report we have seen its success in driving down air pollutant emissions and concentrations. Harmful roadside nitrogen dioxide in outer London has fallen by over 20 per cent through the different phases of the scheme. The £186 million we have committed so far through the scrappage scheme has been instrumental in the over 96 per cent of vehicles we are now seeing complying with the standards.

“We have seen enthusiastic take up of the scrappage scheme after it was opened to all Londoners. With the vast majority of those needing support to adapt to the ULEZ having already taken action and nearly 54,000 thousand applications approved, demand for the scheme is now much lower. We encourage anyone who still needs support to submit their application before 8 September. Any remaining funds will then be considered for other proposed uses to further the Mayor’s Transport Strategy.”

In an interview with Transport + Energy last year, Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, WHO BreatheLife Ambassador and Founder/Director of the Ella Roberta Foundation called for a “just transition” to net zero.

Image courtesy of Shutterstock.