Concerns are being raised over plans to give London’s Metropolitan Police access to cameras set to be installed as part of his expansion of the ULEZ zone.

The Telegraph says campaigning group Big Brother Watch is calling on Mayor Sadiq Khan to reverse the plans after Transport for London papers revealed the Met would be deciding on what cameras within the newly expanded zone that they would have access to.

In papers released to Transport for London’s Audit and Assurance Committee last week, the Greater London Authority revealed that the mayor had given TfL permission to share information from the new cameras.

The Telegraph quotes the paper as saying: “The Met Police are currently working to complete their assessment of which additional cameras they want access to and what the privacy and equalities impacts would be, for submission to TfL, prior to any access being given.”

Mark Johnson, advocacy manager at Big Brother Watch, told The newspaper that the move by Mr Khan to give police access to the new Ulez database was a “deeply concerning step”.

He said: “ANPR is one of the largest surveillance networks in the UK but is dangerously unregulated.”

He added that London was one of the most surveilled cities in the world already, and the mayor needed to pay more heed to the Londoners’ right to privacy and shelve these plans.

Read the Telegraph story here (paywall).

(Picture – Yay Images)