The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has welcomed new findings from TfL, which he says show the success of the city’s ULEZ scrappage scheme.
Launched in January 2023 to support the expansion of ULEZ to outer London, the scheme removed over 53,000 older, high-polluting vehicles from the city’s roads – 35,094 cars and 17,964 vans.
The resulting air quality improvements include estimated annual savings of 160 tonnes of nitrogen oxides, 8.5 tonnes of PM2.5 and 33,400 tonnes of CO2.
The scrappage scheme funded by the Mayor grew from an initial £110 million to £210 million and was gradually expanded to include more Londoners, small businesses, and charities as it went on, making it a larger scheme than all the others in the UK put together.
88% of the funding went to outer London residents, with Croydon and Hillingdon seeing the highest uptake.
Some London Councils, notably Merton and Wandsworth, supplemented this by launching their own schemes to help residents transition to compliant vehicles.
During the 20 months that the scheme was operating there were over 76,000 applications, over 53,000 of which were successful. People did not need to replace their old car, they could simply pocket the cash and choose to live without one and 29% of car and motorcycle scheme respondents surveyed said they took that option.
Others took advantage of options such as a free annual bus or tram pass, which have to date supported over 81,000 trips.
18% of people responding to the survey said they now walked more, while 12% said they used the bus more.
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 sw
Not all vehicles accepted by the scrappage scheme were actually scrapped, nearly 700 were sent to Ukraine to help with medical and humanitarian work.
Iryney Makarukha, ULEZ project lead at British-Ukrainian Aid said: ‘On behalf of British-Ukrainian Aid and all Ukrainians, we’d like to express immense gratitude to the generous London residents, businesses and charities, as well as the Mayor, GLA and TfL representatives, who made vehicle donations possible through the ULEZ scrappage scheme.
‘Over 680 vehicles have been donated to Ukraine and, thanks to tireless efforts of volunteers from British-Ukrainian Aid and partner organisations, over 650 vehicles have already been delivered to charities and NGOs providing humanitarian and medical aid in Ukraine. These vehicles are helping save lives by supporting paramedics, hospitals, and organisations dealing with the devastating consequences of the war.
‘Ukrainians appreciate the great support received from Britain and other reliable partners. Thank you so much for this tremendous contribution.’
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