MPs are calling for emergency service workers to be exempt from the expanded London Ultra Low Emissions Zone charge as it emerges some workers will be charged twice in a single shift.
The Telegraph has pointed out that nurses and police officers working overnight shifts often have to drive to work because of antisocial hours and will have to pay the £12.50 fee when they go to work and again the next morning when they go home if their cars do not reach minimum standards.
Louie French, the Conservative MP for Old Bexley and Sidcup, told the newspaper: “This tax raid on drivers by the Mayor of London from August next year will hammer businesses, residents and emergency service workers in Greater London.
“Nurses working in my local hospital will face costs of up to £25 a shift if they are working nights, which are the same costs facing the many police and fire officers working in Bexley but living in Kent.
“The financial impact of Ulez expansion will be severe on people in outer London and neighbouring counties, and the Mayor needs to urgently reverse this terrible decision.”
But Mayor Sadiq Khan’s office said it was “necessary… to reduce the capital’s toxic air pollution, tackle the climate emergency and cut congestion in our city”.
(Picture – RAC)
