Motorists wanting to dispose of cars that don’t comply with London’s new Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) and claim mayor Sadiq Khan’s scrappage scheme grant are saying that Transport for London’s processing system is struggling to cope and vehicle breakers are overwhelmed.
The ULEZ was expanded to cover all London boroughs on 29 August. To enter the zone free of charge, petrol cars must be at least Euro 4-compliant for NOx emissions, and diesel cars at least Euro 6 for NOx and particulate matter.
According to the RAC, there were around 700,000 non-compliant cars registered in Greater London when the zone was expanded.
On 30 January, Khan launched a £110 million scrappage scheme (later extended to £160 million), offering their owners a £2000 grant towards the cost of a ULEZ-compliant car, and already more than £100m has been claimed. TfL says that it aims to process grant applications within 10 days.
However, with the expanded ULEZ now in operation, applicants are reporting that it’s taking much longer.
One of them, Lucy Hill, who lives in Twickenham, said: “My application has been six weeks of ‘computer says no’.” Meanwhile, drivers claim that London’s breakers have received so many cars that they are unable to scrap them, preventing them from issuing the Certificate of Destruction required by TfL before it will issue the £2000 grant cheque.
Annie Moore, also of Twickenham, said: “As soon as my application was approved, I took my car to be scrapped, but I was told it would take three weeks to do that and issue the certificate.”
One breaker, Durnford Street Car Dismantlers of Tottenham, told Autocar that the number of vehicles it had received for scrapping had increased by 85% in the past three weeks.
“We’re not alone, and I know some breakers are struggling to issue Certificates of Destruction,” said a spokesman.
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Always surprised that people didn't see this coming and kept buying vehicles which were likley to be affected. For example, the number of people who kept buying diesel cars after 2012 when the WHO stated that diesel exhaust was carcinogenic. That was a clear clue that the tide would turn against diesel cars. It's a failure to research thoroughly before buying.
I just don't understand he reasoning behind this. I am all for cleaner air and can support ULEZ, but the mayor has said something like 90% of private cars within the zone were already compliant. That means that at most, 10% of private cars are affected by the restrictions and eligible for the scrapage scheme. In my case, I had a 2014 Euro 5 diesel - not ULEZ compliant, but still worth +£15K, so not going for scrap and a £2K cheque. I traded it for a ULEZ-complaint vehicle, but really - a lot of bother for little gain. I live in the zone but only use my car for long trips outside Given the 10% figure, why not offer the scrapage but also grandfather existing cars registered within the ULEZ zone? That way, older residents (who often need a car a car for shopping or medical reasons) could keep what they had? Those vehicles could become non-complaint if sold, so each year there would be fewer and fewer. Remember - we are only (supposedly) talking about 10%
The environmental damage of destroying roadworthy cars proves this scheme to be nothing but a money making excercise. This is shameful.
Always be suspicious when you are told you can save the environment by buying lots of new stuff.