The head of a private care charity is warning that the expansion of London’s ultra-low emission zone could increase pressure on the NHS as care home staff struggle to get to work.

The Telegraph quotes Professor Martin Green from Care England as saying the decision to expand the ULEZ to Greater London was “terribly unfair”.

He suggested that private care homes could “cease to offer services anywhere where there’s the ULEZ charge”.

“If people cannot get support in their own homes or in residential homes, the only place they can go to is the NHS and we all know how pressurised the NHS is,” the Telegraph quotes him as saying.

The most polluting cars will be charged £12.50 to drive in all of London from August 29 next year, after Mayor Sadiq Khan announced the ULEZ would be extended.

Former Transport Minister and London Mayoral candidate Steve Norris has previously criticised ULEZ because those who have the least money cannot afford newer cars, so are more likely to be subject to ULEZ. He called it “a tax on the poor for being poor.”

(Picture – RAC)