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London Mayor announces major expansion to ULEZ scrappage scheme

The Mayor of London has announced an expansion of the £110m scrappage scheme from the end of July. Small businesses registered in London with fewer than 50 employees – not just sole traders and micro businesses – will be eligible, and charities operating in London will be allowed to scrap or retrofit up to three vans or minibuses instead of just one.

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The Mayor has announced that tens of thousands more Londoners, including all small businesses in the capital, will be eligible for financial support to replace polluting vehicles from the end of July.

This is part of an extension of London’s scrappage scheme ahead of the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) expanding on 29th August 2023.

A new grace period for sole traders, microbusinesses, small businesses, and registered charities who have ordered brand-new compliant vehicles, but have been informed that delivery will be delayed past 29 August when the larger zone goes live – or if they have booked an approved retrofit appointment for a non-compliant light van or minibus before that date.

The vast majority of vehicles in the capital are already ULEZ-compliant, so most Londoners will not need to pay the ULEZ charge, change their vehicle or retrofit their van or minibus. The latest data shows that nine out of 10 cars, and around 8 out of 10 vans seen driving in the zone on an average day are already compliant.

For non-compliant vehicles, the Mayor launched London’s biggest-ever scrappage scheme in January 2023 – worth £110m – to support London-based smaller businesses, sole traders and charities, Londoners on lower incomes and disabled Londoners to replace their older, more polluting vehicles with greener alternatives.

Research published earlier this year showed that the Mayor’s air quality policies, and in particular the ULEZ and LEZ schemes, are having a significant impact on reducing the number of older, more polluting vehicles seen driving in London and on reducing the levels of harmful air pollution. \

The number of older, more polluting vehicles in the zone has continued to reduce significantly over the last four years, with an average reduction of 74,000 polluting vehicles per day since the 2021 expansion. Emissions and resulting pollution levels have also been reduced dramatically. Harmful nitrogen dioxide levels have been reduced by nearly half in central London and over a fifth in inner London, compared to what they would have been without the ULEZ. Those outside the London boundary are also set to benefit, with drivers outside of the capital shifting to cleaner vehicles that meet the standards.

The London-wide ULEZ solely covers the geographical area the Mayor is responsible for.

Currently, charities, sole traders and businesses with 10 or fewer employees registered in London can apply to scrap a van (£5,000 grant) or a minibus (£7,000 grant), retrofit certain vans or minibuses (£5,000 grant) or scrap and replace a van or minibus with a fully electric vehicle (£7,500 or £9,500 grant respectively).

The expanded scrappage scheme eligibility will include the following:

  • All small businesses with less than 50 employees registered in London
  • Changes to the scheme will also see the introduction of two new short grace periods:

->A short grace period for sole traders, microbusinesses, small businesses and registered charities who have booked a retrofit appointment for a non-compliant light van or minibus before 29 August will be introduced. The grace period would be confirmed upon proof of appointment and would apply for a maximum of three months from launch (to 30 November 2023) while the organisation waited for the retrofit to happen.

->A short grace period for sole traders, microbusinesses, small businesses and registered charities who have ordered brand new compliant vehicles but have been informed that delivery will be delayed past 29 August 2023 due to issues such as supply chain delays will also be introduced. This would require proof of purchase before 29 August and would apply until their vehicle was due to arrive, up to a maximum of six months post-launch (end of February 2024).

There is no need to purchase a brand new vehicle, affordable compliant vehicles are available, with Euro 4 petrol vehicles from 2006 being compliant.

TfL’s vehicle checker can be accessed at the following: https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/check-your-vehicle/

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