Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has rejected a proposal to send cars to Ukraine that would otherwise be scrapped under the Ultra Low Emission Zone (Ulez) policy.
According to a letter obtained by The Telegraph, Khan stated that he will not allow these vehicles, predominantly 4x4s and pick-up trucks, to be sent to the war zone despite the urgent need on the front line.
Under the London Ulez scheme, motorists have the option to claim a one-off payment of £2,000 if they decide to scrap a vehicle that does not comply with the controversial pollution levy.
The proposal to send some of these scrapped vehicles to Ukraine was initiated by Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of Kyiv, who wrote to Mr. Khan in September. Klitschko suggested that the vehicles could serve various life-saving and transport roles in Ukraine.
However, Khan responded this week, expressing his refusal to allow the proposal, citing a lack of meeting the "legal threshold" required by the Ulez scrappage scheme to benefit Londoners economically, socially, and environmentally.
Susan Hall, the Conservative candidate for the mayor of London, criticized Khan's decision.
She argued that Londoners who choose to scrap their cars should have the freedom to decide if they want their vehicles sent to support Ukraine.
Hall pledged to seek a change in the law if she becomes mayor, allowing Ukraine to receive the vehicles.
Richard Lofthouse, associated with Car for Ukraine, a volunteer initiative delivering 4x4s and trucks to the front line, criticized Khan for lacking "political courage."
“Presumably it’s no bad thing and no ‘disbenefit’ for Londoners to actually show solidarity with another free state fighting tyranny, rather than only line the greedy pockets of private scrapyard merchants who are receiving thousands of perfectly good cars as the result of the scrappage scheme subsidy,” he said.
Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, volunteer organizations like Car for Ukraine have been delivering donated 4x4s and larger vehicles to the war zone for soldiers on the front line.
These vehicles are repurposed for various uses, including combat and casualty retrieval, once inside the country.
You can also highlight the text and press Ctrl + Enter
Comments (2)
Khan will soon be gone, there is an election soon. He has failed London. There is mass civil disorder, more crime, more murder on the streets and more overcrowded homes. Bad standard of housing and a stupid ULEZ transport policy that nobody wants.
Mayor Klitschko has a great idea here and the real British people support it.
Khan isn't one of us and doesn't accurately represent us. He's just a lucky British passport holder who doesn't even love our Royal family. He does not understand what it means to be British.
Get with the program Mr. Khan. You cannot at the same time despise racist putin cronies like Donald's Rump, Victor Orban and Fararge and then deprive the only ally capable (Ukraine) of taking out their puppet master some low cost yet much needed support. In the least not letting these capable yet about to be scrapped vehicles go to a higher cause makes you look petty or silly.....to some it may makes you look like a Putin sympathizer, but I don't think that is who you are based on your past efforts to move democracy forward. So before your current bizaare decision becomes your political demise, make the obvious 'no brainer' decision and get these vehicles to Ukraine ASAP.
Note to all other allies....what surplus or under utilized assets could you immediately contribute to Ukraine with minimal budget impact. I've already written to my Canadian leadership about the www.gcsurplus.ca assets that should be shipped over. I'll know it holds more meaningful value in Ukraine's hands right now. These are relatively low cost, quick hit, high benefit to Ukraine decisions. Get it done!
@John, The ULEZ transport policy, Camera installation and 30Km/Hr speed limit imposition is part of the command and control routine creeping in. In the US, incorporation of Alcohol detection devices is being demanded by lawmakers under the guise of making "every thing safer" or "greener", which makes these changes hard to argue against.
We've just had a change in Government down here, the flaky, left wing, Putin loving hand wringers led by Jacinda Adern (until she bailed six months out from the election), they made Ukraine supporting noises, but did nothing tangible to help hold the Orcs to account are gone. Hopefully the right wing collation that has replaced them, will relook at our contribution.
We have about 60 Canadian made Light Armored Vehicles, in various configurations and spares packages that are now surplus to our Defence Force as they take delivery of Australian made Bushmaster replacements Canada has already sent some of these to Ukraine, so there shouldn't be any licensing restrictions that would need to be overcome.
Six used Ambulances have been shipped by a private charity group, hopefully more will follow