TfL making £220,000 a day from London’s new Ulez

London's vehicle pollution levy is bringing in around £220,000 a day for Transport for London, it was revealed today.

An average of 17,400 drivers of older, more-polluting vehicles paid the charge to drive into central London’s ultra-low emission zone (Ulez) in its first month.

Cars, vans and motorbikes with exhaust emissions that breach the rules pay £12.50 a day, while HGVs and coaches pay £100 a day.

Just under three-quarters of the 120,000 vehicles entering the Ulez — which launched on April 8 and uses the same boundaries as the Congestion Charge — complied with the emissions rules and did not have to pay.

The remaining 26 per cent — equating to 32,100 vehicles a day — breached the emissions standards.

However, 11,700 of these were exempt, either because they were black taxis (7,900 vehicles) or belonged to residents living within the zone or disabled drivers. A further 3,000 drivers a day failed to pay the charge but were sent a warning letter rather than a £130 fine under an unexpected “softly, softly” introductory approach.

The 74 per cent vehicle compliance figure is above TfL’s expectations and compares with 61 per cent weekday compliance in March, suggesting thousands of drivers have already switched to vehicles with lower emissions to escape the charge.

It means there were 9,400 fewer “polluting” vehicles a day entering the zone, down 26 per cent compared with March. Overall, the total volume of daytime traffic in the zone (between 7am and 6pm) was down only 1.8 per cent, from 91,035 vehicles to 89,380.

The figures were calculated after disgregarding unusual events such as the Easter holidays and road disruption caused by the Extinction Rebellion eco-protests.

Sadiq Khan said: “Today’s report shows how bold action reaps rewards. Just one month after launching Ulez we have already seen a significant impact on the types of vehicles driving in the centre of our capital and polluting our air. It’s early days, but it’s great to see Londoners and businesses are doing their bit to make a difference.”

TfL says it is too early to say what impact the Ulez has had on nitrogen dioxide roadside concentrations, which it was set up to reduce.

Despite warnings that drivers who failed to pay the Ulez would be penalised from day one, TfL chose only to issue warning letters.