Ulez: Mayor rejects Tory claim of £40m fines in 16 days

Sadiq Khan has clashed with the Conservative Party's London mayoral candidate over the Ultra Low Emission Zone (Ulez) at mayor's question time.

He rejected claims by Susan Hall, a Tory, that expanding Ulez had raised £40m in just 16 days.

Mr Khan said he "didn't recognise" the figure.

He added that Transport for London (TfL) was issuing warning letters instead of charging many drivers.

Ms Hall accused the mayor of imposing an "unfair" charge on individuals and businesses.

"You are destroying people's livelihoods," she said. "Londoners deserve better."

Mr Khan said it was not fair that children had stunted lungs, adults had health problems and that many of the poorest Londoners did not have a car.

He said there would be a report about the impact of expanding Ulez to outer London after a month.

Emma Best, Conservative, asked the mayor about reports that he was planning to introduce a pay-per-mile policy.

"I want to be quite clear. A pay-per-mile scheme is not on the table and not on my agenda… it's not on the radar," said Mr Khan

"As long as I am mayor we are not going to have pay-per-mile."

But changes that would streamline current charges were possible, he admitted.

"[We may] simplify the congestion charge, the Ulez, the Lez (low emission zone) and the toll on the Silvertown Tunnel. If there's a way of simplifying that, it's certainly not something I would be averse to."

A TfL spokesman declined to say how much the expanded Ulez had raised, saying: "As with previous schemes we will publish a monitoring report on the first few weeks of operation. We expect this to be ready in the autumn."

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