Delivery Driver Tells Sadiq Khan ULEZ Is Destroying His Business

11 April 2019, 14:03 | Updated: 11 April 2019, 14:33

The Mayor of London was forced to defend his new ULEZ charge when John, a self-employed delivery driver, told him the scheme was unfair and hitting his business hard.

London has introduced the UK's first ULEZ in a bid to halve emissions from cars in the capital by 2020.

Since Monday 8th April 2019, vehicles which do not meet strict emission requirements face a daily charge to travel.

The ULEZ will apply to the same area as the current Congestion Charge zone.

During Speak to Sadiq, John, a delivery driver and sole trader, asked Sadiq Khan: "why am I personally, as a self-employed single guy...not entitled to the scrappage scheme?"

"We know the area is dirty, I've got kids too" he says, acknowledging the pollution issue but reiterating that the situation was unfair.

James O'Brien clarified that if John were running a business with six vehicles for instance, he would be entitled to the scrappage scheme but because he's a sole trader he is not.

John continued: "I'm getting hit the hardest. [Sadiq] won't help me sell my car and he's charging me a fortune".

The sole trader pointed out that it would have been better to roll it out over the course of three years, saying "we're being kneed right in the stomach, and we're having to pay for it, and there's thousands like me".

Sadiq said that he was sorry John wasn't eligible and that he would continue to lobby the government in order to expand the scheme.

The Mayor conceded that City Hall was trying to help as many people as possible with the "finite sum of money" they had, which so far had been targeted towards micro-businesses and charities.

Sadiq Khan carried on defending his ULEZ charge as he said that London had already seen an improvement in the air since the ULEZ charge was announced and that he "[didn't] apologise at all for accelerating [his] ambition to clean up the air in London sooner rather than later".