Sadiq Khan may ship automobiles that fail to satisfy London‘s ULEZ requirements to Ukraine, the Authorities has discovered.
Metropolis Corridor’s scrappage scheme has seen Londoners declare roughly £158 million after buying and selling in non-compliant automobiles, with one other £50 million now added to the fund.
Practically 65,000 automotive and bike house owners and 50,000 van house owners utilized for the £2,000 scrappage cost, which they’ll put in the direction of new autos that meet the requirements required by ULEZ.
Because the scheme’s identify suggests, lots of the automobiles now in Metropolis Corridor’s possession have been destined for scrapyards.
However in an uncommon twist, the Authorities has discovered it might be authorized for the London Mayor to ship the automobiles to Jap Europe.
Mr Khan stated in 2023 that he didn’t consider London officers may legally ship the autos to Ukraine, the place they could possibly be used to help the native struggle effort in opposition to Russia.
Among the many scrapped automobiles obtained by Metropolis Corridor because the scrappage scheme started are 4x4s and different related autos that could possibly be used to hold troops and in any other case help fighters.
He requested Mark Harper, the Transport Secretary, whether or not this was the case in a letter final December.
Mr Harper responded to the London Mayor final week, confirming that the Authorities didn’t determine a “authorized barrier” stopping officers from exporting the automobiles.
He wrote: “We don’t take into account there to be any authorized barrier to permitting autos to be donated to Ukraine.
“You’ve got recognized authorized obstacles that relate to the processes and design of your scheme and DfT [Department for Transport] and DLUHC [Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities] officers have been working with TfL [Transport for London] to determine routes to beat these.”
The transport secretary added in his letter that any car donated to the Ukrainian military could be “extremely unlikely” to return to the UK.
He additionally highlighted a DVLA scheme that will notify TfL when a car is donated to Ukraine, avoiding “a number of scrappage funds being paid for a similar car”.
The response was welcomed by Mr Khan, who hailed the “encouraging information” in a submit on X, previously often called Twitter.
He wrote: “Encouraging information from the Transport Secretary – let’s maintain working collectively to get this finished.”