One in four new ULEZ cameras damaged after scheme expands | UK News

Motorists against the expansion of London’s Ultra-low emission zone (ULEZ) have taken direct action to show their anger.

The scheme, which sees non-compliant vehicles fined £12.50 a day for driving in the city, saw the zone expand to cover the entirety of greater London on Tuesday.

However the expansion, spearheaded by London Mayor Sadiq Khan, has proved controversial – and some people are taking matters into their own hands.

A crowd-sourced map appears to show that 450 out of the 1,762 new cameras installed to catch non-compliant vehicles in the expanded zone have been damaged or are missing, the MailOnline reports.

Across the capital, vandals have spray painted over cameras, cut their wires, covered them in bags or boxes, or even stolen or smashed them.

The latest figures from the Metropolitan Police show about 380 attacks on cameras have been reported since the start of the year.

The latest data, taken on Thursday, shows that across both the old and existing zone, one in every five – 497 of the 2,692 – recorded cameras have either been removed or are out of commission. 

But analysts allege this increases to one in four when assessing data only from camera installed in the newly expanded zone.

The map also suggests that the borough of Bromley has been worst hit with 83% of its cameras – 100 out of 120 – reported missing or damaged.

Other hard-hit boroughs include Lewisham, Sutton and Bexley at 60%, 57% and 40.8%, respectively.

A TfL spokesperson said: ‘We have an extensive camera network which is sufficient to support the effective operation of the scheme.

‘Anyone driving a non-compliant vehicle in the expanded zone will be detected, and we advise everyone to check if their vehicle is compliant.’

Earlier this week, TfL said the vandalism would not stop the ULEZ expansion and that all vandalised cameras will be replaced or repaired.

More than 1,900 cameras have been installed in greater London.

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