Sadiq Khan‘s much-hated Ulez expansion sparked violence on the streets of London today between protesters who can’t afford to pay the charges and the police.
The flashpoint erupted outside Downing Street where campaigners against paying just to drive through their home city had been for much of the day.
It comes hours before the Ulez expansion, affecting all 32 boroughs, will come into effect from midnight, seeing people having to pay a £12.50 daily charge to drive the most polluting vehicles around the capital.
Shocking footage saw police scuffling with some of the protesters as tempers flared over the controversial expansion which is set to bring an extra £2.5 million a day to City Hall and raise billions in the coming years.
Retired builder John Davies, 66 said: ‘Sadiq Khan is robbing me of my pension. He is taxing the poor and it’s all based on lies.
‘I’m a pensioner. I’m 60 per cent disabled and I’m struggling to pay my bills
‘This man has lied time after time. He doesn’t account for his actions and he has nothing but contempt for ordinary people. It’s disgusting.
‘I’ve worked all my life since I was 15 – 51 years of working my guts out.. I have a van that they say is non-compliant. It’s a 2009 diesel. The emissions are no different from the vehicles they say are compliant. He’s just plucked out a date from the air and it’s poorer people who can’t afford newer vehicles that are being punished. It’s disgraceful.
‘He’s conning us out of our hard earned money. I only drive 3,00 to 4,000 miles a year. I don’t do the mileage to cause a lot of pollution yet they want me to pay £12.50 a day. It’s outrageous.
‘I’m living on a state pension of £186-a-week.’