Sadiq Khan Refuses To Give Charities An Exemption To ULEZ

10 May 2019, 11:25 | Updated: 13 May 2019, 12:26

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has told LBC he will not allow charities to be exempt from paying the ULEZ charge.

Mansukh called Speak To Sadiq to say that he is forced to pay £80 for the Ultra Low Emissions Zone every week to come into the centre of London to feed the homeless.

But the Mayor of London refused to help out the charity, saying the policy of improving the air quality in London is too important.

Mr Khan told him: "Apply to the Diesel Scrappage Scheme and we'll see what we can do.

"There are some exemptions for those who live inside the ULEZ area..."

But James O'Brien interrupted: "This is fairly straightforward. This is a charty exemption. Charities are coming in and out of London to feed the homeless and to help Londoners."

The Mayor insisted: "There can't be a straight exemption.

"What we can do, notwithstanding zero assistance from central government, we've got a Diesel Scrappage Scheme and it will help charities, micro-businesses, sole traders and others who need assistance and we're also working on plans to help low-income families as well."

Mr Khan explained that they are seeing positive results from the new charge: "We've got an air quality crisis in London, leading to thousands of premature deaths in our city, leading to children having stunted, under-developed lungs forever and adults have a whole host of health issues including asthma, dementia, cancer and heart disease.

"I accept that for some people, if they can't afford to change vehicles and they want to come into central London, it's a price that they have to pay.

"But the evidence is that since the policy came into force, we've got fewer and fewer non-compliant vehicles coming in.

"And when we've done checks on the roadside, the quality of air has been improving. So I'm not going to apologise for trying to clean up the air in London."