Sadiq Khan has clashed with the Conservative Party's London mayoral candidate over the Ultra Low Emission Zone (Ulez) at mayor's question time. He rejected claims by Susan Hall that expanding Ulez had raised £40m in just 16 days, adding that Transport for London (TfL) was issuing warning letters instead of charging many drivers.
Ms Hall accused the mayor of imposing an "unfair" charge on individuals and businesses, saying: "You are destroying people's livelihoods. Londoners deserve better." Mr Khan responded that it was not fair that children had stunted lungs, adults had health problems and that many of the poorest Londoners did not have a car.
He said there would be a report about the impact of expanding Ulez to outer London after a month. During the session, Conservative Assembly Member Emma Best asked about reports that the mayor was planning to introduce a pay-per-mile policy.
Mr Khan was emphatic: "I want to be quite clear. A pay-per-mile scheme is not on the table and not on my agenda… it's not on the radar. As long as I am mayor we are not going to have pay-per-mile." However, he admitted that changes to streamline current charges were possible, suggesting simplification of the congestion charge, Ulez, the low emission zone (Lez) and the Silvertown Tunnel toll.
A TfL spokesman declined to say how much the expanded Ulez had raised, stating: "As with previous schemes we will publish a monitoring report on the first few weeks of operation. We expect this to be ready in the autumn."
