Mayor Sadiq Khan admits he used to drive Land Rover to his central London office every day as he continues campaign to expand hated £12-a-day Ulez charge across capital
- Mr Khan wants to make some motorists pay £12.50 a day to drive in London
- Yet he says when he was a lawyer he used to drive to work, despite nearby Tube
Under-pressure Sadiq Khan – who critics accuse of being anti-car over his Ulez plans – was today branded a hypocrite for previously driving a Land Rover to work despite public transport being available.
The Mayor of London, 52, has been widely criticised by families in the capital over his plans to charge some older and high-emission vehicles £12.50 a day.
And Mr Khan, who was promoting his book about the environment, admitted when he was a lawyer up until 2004 he too would drive to work.
At the time he was working at Christian Khan in Bloomsbury, which is two streets away from an Underground station.
But Mr Khan told London Book Fair: ‘I was one of those people, when I became a partner at my law firm which was in between two Tube stations, I negotiated a car-parking space.
Mayor Sadiq Khan seen leaving his south London home wearing a mask a few years ago
Mr Khan being driven in a Land Rover which he says he has to take due to threats made to him
‘I then became an owner of a Land Rover Discovery.
‘As an MP I voted for a third runway at Heathrow because I thought that climate change was a tomorrow issue.’
Mr Khan lives in one of the jewels of South London, Tooting, and a drive to the law firm would have taken him nearly an hour.
His disclosure was greeted by utter astonishment by one of his rivals at City Hall.
Tony Devenish AM, City Hall Conservatives environment spokesperson, said: ‘Sadiq Khan believes it is one rule for him, one rule for everyone else.
‘As a lawyer he used to drive a Land Rover, as Mayor he took a three-car convoy to walk his dog miles from his home, and just last year he emitted three tons of carbon to take his team on a jolly to Argentina. Londoners do not need to hear lectures about climate change and air pollution from this hypocrite.
Sadiq Khan at the Star Wars Celebration photocall in London on April 7 enjoying the event
The controversial scheme is set to force Londoners to pay an incredible £12.50-a-day to drive in the capital from August 29, if their cars don’t meet certain environmental standards
‘If you look at his seven-year record on the environment, from the solar panel scandal, to his failure to improve housing energy efficiency, to the fact his own reports show that ULEZ expansion does next to nothing on air quality, he should apologise to Londoners.’
Earlier today Mr Khan was accused of forcing charities to shut down their services because a scrappage scheme ‘doesn’t fit the bill’, with animal charities and schools speaking out against it.
Ulez will force Londoners to pay £12.50-a-day to drive in the capital from August 29, if their cars don’t meet certain environmental standards.
Minister for London Paul Scully told MailOnline that Sadiq Khan needed to ‘get a grip’ on his controversial policy.
The Tory MP said: ‘Charities across London are set to get hammered by the mayor’s tax grab.
‘He’s mismanaged TfL, his scrappage scheme doesn’t fit the bill and now he’s making animal rescue charities pay the price.
Minister for London Paul Scully (pictured) told MailOnline that Labour Mayor of London Sadiq Khan needed to ‘get a grip’ on his controversial ULEZ policy
Dogs on the Streets, which provides vital healthcare services for dogs with homeless or vulnerable owners, said it would will have to give up its delivery address in Enfield because of Sadiq Khan’s (pictured) ULEZ charge
At least half a dozen charities have revealed ULEZ and its lacking scrappage scheme mean they will have to shut down their services
‘Khan needs to listen to Londoners and get a grip on this unpopular policy.’
At least half a dozen charities have revealed the lacking scrappage scheme means they will have to shut down their services.
Charities said the scrappage scheme does not offer enough money to retrofit or replace a vehicle in the current market and only allows them to claim a grant for one car.
Dogs on the Streets, which provides vital healthcare services for dogs with homeless or vulnerable owners, said it would will have to give up its delivery address in Enfield because of Sadiq Khan’s charge
The charity accused Sadiq Khan of having ‘absolutely no compassion for our street homeless and vulnerable community’.
Khan’s office has dismissed the charity’s concerns for years.
In 2021, when ULEZ was expanded to inner London, Sadiq Khan’s deputy Shirley Rodrigues told Dogs on the Streets to ‘fundraise’ to pay for the charge, after the charity explained that the scrappage scheme would not help them.
Khan even accused Dogs on the Streets of declining help.
Michelle Clark, founding director of Dogs on the Streets, said: ‘Our dog transport vehicle which is used on a daily basis is not retrofit compliant, therefore we may have to cease using it when the ULEZ expansion takes effect.
‘It would cost the charity £20,000-£30,000 to change the vehicle altogether, which is money we just don’t have.’
Another charity struggling because of ULEZ is Wallington Animal Rescue, an animal, domestic, and wildlife rescue charity in Sutton.
READ MORE: How Sadiq Khan is helping to drive up the cost of second-hand cars: Prices of ULEZ-friendly motors has more than doubled ahead of low-emission zone expansion across London
The charity has already been forced to sell one of its two rescue vehicles because it was not ULEZ compliant.
Replacing the other one will cost the charity at least £17,000m which is well above the grants offered by the scrappage scheme.
Amanda Blackwell and Neil Blackwell, founders of Wallington Animal Rescue, said: ‘The whole ULEZ issue has caused our rescue an immeasurable amount of stress.
‘We had two vehicles covering the London Borough of Sutton, we’re now down to one.
‘This whole issue is costing us thousands of pounds, money we can ill-afford. We’re a small charity that is struggling under a huge amount of pressure post-Covid and in the cost of living crisis.
‘We’re seeing a huge increase in people looking to surrender animals for financial reasons.
‘We are seeing a decrease in what little funding we receive anyway.
‘The situation in the animal rescue world is absolutely reaching a crisis point.
‘ULEZ will be the final nail in the coffin for many small independent rescues.’
Charity Begins at Home, which delivers food, clothes and life-essential items to those in need, has warned it will also have to stop its operations because of Sadiq Khan’s ULEZ expansion.
The charity warned that more people could be left on the streets because of the scheme.
Meanwhile, just last year it was revealed that TfL rejected a ULEZ discount or exemption request by Serv Herts and Beds, which is part of a nationwide voluntary organisation delivering blood, medical samples and breast milk for the NHS free of charge.
Volunteers use their own vehicles, fuel and insurance – meaning ULEZ once again puts another charity’s services at risk of stopping.
Other charities including Humdum UK and Hatton School and Special Needs Centre also face their services shutting down because of the lacking scrappage scheme and ULEZ expansion.
City Hall Conservatives transport spokesman Nick Rogers said: ‘Sadiq Khan’s cruel and unnecessary ULEZ expansion is forcing charities to shut down services, all because of his own financial mismanagement of TfL.
‘The scrappage scheme is woefully inadequate and will do next to nothing to address the damage his ULEZ expansion plans will cause.
‘Sadiq Khan needs to scrap this disastrous policy, which an overwhelming majority of Londoners have told him they do not want.’
A spokesperson for the Mayor of London said: ‘The decision to expand the Ultra Low Emission Zone London-wide was not an easy one for the Mayor to make but it was necessary. Around 4,000 Londoners die prematurely each year due to toxic air, children are growing up with stunted lungs and thousands of people in our city are developing life-changing illnesses, such as cancer, lung disease, dementia and asthma.
‘Nine out of ten cars driving in outer London are already ULEZ compliant and will not have to pay the charge, and for those charities or Londoners who are disabled or on low incomes and have a non-compliant car, a £110m scrappage scheme is available to support them.
‘The Mayor recognises the vital role charities play in our communities and the GLA and TfL continue to do all they can to support charities to transition to cleaner vehicles with grants of up to nearly £10,000 available to charities. were the government to give London scrappage funding as they have done for Birmingham, Bristol and Portsmouth, even more families and charities could benefit greener vehicles and cleaner air.’
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