Father claims Sadiq Khan's will 'rip his life apart' with ULEZ fees

Distraught North London father claims Sadiq Khan’s will ‘rip his life apart’ and reveals new regulations have already forced him to close his Enfield construction business

  • Paul Bates, 50, says the £12.50 daily fee will cut time with his daughter Kylie, 9
  • Read more: TfL issues £400MILLION worth of Ulez fines in less than 18 months

A North London father has issued an emotional plea to Sadiq Khan over the ULEZ expansion, claiming his life is being ‘ripped apart’ because he won’t be able to see his daughter as often.

Paul Bates, 50, says the £12.50 daily fee for non-compliant vehicles is set to cut the amount of time he can spend with his nine-year-old daughter, Kylie.

He also says he was forced to fold his construction business 11 months ago as soon as ‘cameras had gone up in Enfield’.

This is because he used a pre-2015 diesel van and he ‘would not have been able to pay his staff and cover fees for their non-compliant vans’.

Mr Bates, who currently visits Kylie every week, says once the zone is expanded on August 29 he will only be able to drive to her home in Hythe, Kent, once every two weeks which will cause them ’emotional harm’.

Paul Bates, 50, says the £12.50 daily fee for non-compliant vehicles is set to cut the amount of time he can spend with his nine-year-old daughter, Kylie (pictured)

Mr Bates says he had to sell his non-compliant diesel Ford van and fold his business

‘With ULEZ our lives are being ripped apart. I can only see her every two weeks as I cannot afford the £25 per weekend on top of fuel and toll charges,’ he said.

‘Sometimes we go through the Blackwall Tunnel, but that takes even longer which is not good for a child. I have contact every weekend but now only every second weekend due to the cost of ULEZ, this has emotionally harmed my daughter.

‘We have such a close bond we have seen each other every weekend for years… I worry that our bond is being permanently damaged.’

He added: ‘I worry that she’ll grow up thinking that I didn’t try hard enough to be with her but unfortunately Sadiq Khan has taken it upon himself to destroy many businesses, relationships. 

‘I’m so proud to be a father. She’s the best thing that happened to me, but I feel that this is being taken away from me by things I have no control over.’

On his business, Mr Bates added: ‘I’ve stopped working after all these years as the guys that worked for me had non-compliant vehicles and I simply couldn’t afford to cover them all especially with the rising costs of construction materials after Covid.

‘After I had provided quotations and the clients couldn’t get more money from the banks to cover my huge losses, I had to fold. 

‘I tried for months to find a solution but I got into so much debt because of it which I’m still trying to pay back now as I had maxed out several credit cards which subsequently destroyed my credit rating.

‘I’ve had to sell my van, a Ford Transit Connect, due to the ULEZ. This van was for my building firm for 28 years. ULEZ each month was more than the finance on the van. We Buy Any Van kindly cleared up my remaining finance.

‘I’ve now taken a job for another contractor. The vehicle I now use isn’t ULEZ compliant – a 2008 diesel Fiat Scudo Van.’ 

Asked if the ULEZ scrappage scheme would have been able to help at the time, Mr Bates added: ‘No [it wouldn’t have helped] because the value of my van was £8,500 and had outstanding finance with car finance 24/7, which I had to clear this debt.’

Sadiq Khan announced an expansion of the £110 million scrappage scheme earlier this month, including allowing businesses registered in London with fewer than 50 employees to apply from July. 

Until now, it was only open to those with up to ten staff. City Hall is offering £5,000 to scrap or retrofit a van, or £7,500 to scrap a van and replace it with an electric van.

Christina Calderato, TfL’s Director of Strategy and Policy, said: ‘London has made significant progress over the last six years in improving air quality, but it sadly remains the case that thousands of Londoners die prematurely each year as a result of toxic pollution. 

‘Children are growing up with stunted lungs and thousands of people in our city are developing life-changing illnesses due to pollution, such as cancer, lung disease, dementia and asthma.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan delivers a keynote speech at Forest Hill school in south London, to announce his plans for an expanded Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ)

Sadiq Khan announced an expansion of the £110 million scrappage scheme earlier this month, including allowing businesses registered in London with fewer than 50 employees to apply from July

‘The London-wide ULEZ is vital in tackling the triple challenges of air pollution, the climate emergency and congestion, and will help millions more people breathe cleaner air. 

‘We are already seeing 90 per cent of cars across outer London on an average day complying with the standards and expect this to be even higher when the scheme goes live. 

‘The scheme is supporting London based small businesses, sole traders and charities, disabled Londoners and those on lower incomes in replacing, or in some cases retrofitting, their older, more polluting vehicles with greener options ahead of the expansion.

‘From July, eligibility will expand to include all small businesses in London and tens of thousands of Londoners in receipt of child benefit. 

‘There is no need for drivers to purchase a brand new vehicle, affordable compliant vehicles are available, with Euro 4 petrol vehicles from after 2005 being compliant.’

A spokesperson for the Mayor of London said: ‘The Mayor has been clear that the decision to expand the Ultra Low Emission Zone London-wide was not an easy one to make, but necessary to tackle air pollution. 

‘In Enfield, up to an estimated 164 people lose their lives prematurely each year due to toxic air pollution.

‘For the very small proportion of drivers of non-compliant vehicles, the Mayor has already launched the biggest scrappage scheme ever – £110m – to help families on lower incomes, micro businesses, charities, sole traders and disabled Londoners replace their vehicle with a less polluting one. 

‘From the end of July, TfL is widening of eligibility of the scheme to include Londoners who are in receipt of Child Benefit and London-registered small businesses with 10-49 employees. There is still plenty of money left in the scrappage scheme and the Mayor will continue to monitor and keep the scheme under review.’

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