Ulez charge has added £41m to TfL coffers since April
More than £40m has been raised from Sadiq Khan’s air pollution levy in the scheme’s first six months.
A Freedom of Information (FOI) request to Transport for London (TfL), sent by car selling comparison website Motoway.co.uk, revealed 2.1m Ultra Low Emissions Zone (Ulez) charges were purchased by drivers up to 31 August.
Read more: Ulez charge drastically cuts London’s air pollution
This resulted in £30.67m in revenue, while 223,952 penalty notices were also handed out, which totalled £10.62m.
The FOI also revealed the driver with the most penalty notices – a Ford Focus driver who entered the zone 81 times without paying the charge.
The Ulez charge is paid by central London drivers whose vehicles fail to meet environmental standards.
It costs £12.50 for ordinary cars, while the penalty for not paying the charge is a £160 fine or £80 if paid within a fortnight.
The charge is £100 for larger vehicles, with a £1000 non-payment fine or £500 if paid within a fortnight.
Alex Buttle, director of Motorway.co.uk, said: “While Ulez was not about generating money for councils, it has nevertheless brought in more than £40m in charges and penalty notices in the six months since launch.
“Although pollution levels are still unacceptably high in the capital, the success of Ulez proves that similar clean air zones can and should be urgently rolled out across the country.”
A report from the mayor’s office recently showed Ulez has helped decrease the levels of nitrogen oxide, a toxic gas, by 33 per cent in central London since 2017.
It also found there were now 13,500 fewer polluting cars being driven into the zone since April.
Read more: Sadiq Khan’s Ulez comes into force: What can drivers expect?
The mayor of London report added that 77 per cent of vehicles in the zone now also meet the clean emissions standards set by the scheme.
In 2021, the zone’s limits will be expanded for heavy vehicles to the North and South Circular roads.