London police revealed Friday nearly 300 incidents of attacks against spy cameras used in the city’s Ultra-Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) have been recorded ahead of the contentious scheme’s wider rollout later this month.
The Metropolitan Police launched an operation in April after it received reports from local government agency Transport for London (TfL) of criminal damage and theft against the cameras designed to help deliver Mayor Sadiq Khan’s tax on older cars.
The scheme, which requires owners of older, more polluting cars to pay a fee to drive within the zone, has faced particular opposition from London’s outer boroughs and neighbouring counties.
Exclusive: London’s ‘ULEZ’ Car Emissions Tax Is Part of a ‘War on Individual Liberty’, Warns Laurence Fox https://t.co/WVQWYLF2Ms
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) July 18, 2023
At the end of June the number of incidents recorded had grown to around 200.
By the start of this month the force had logged 288 “crimes relating to ULEZ cameras,” the Met said, pointing to the growing backlash against the scheme pushed by the left-wing Labour mayor.
The AFP report says they include approximately 185 reports of cables being damaged, 164 cameras being stolen and 38 reports of cameras being obscured.
Damaged cabling hangs from a vandalised ULEZ enforcement camera on August 18, 2023 in Orpington, England. Since April, the Metropolitan Police received over 300 reports of damaged or stolen cameras installed to police the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ), ahead of the zone’s expansion to all parts of London. (Leon Neal/Getty Images)
“These are clearly unacceptable acts of criminality and we have a team of officers investigating and identifying those responsible,” Commander Owain Richards said in a statement.
Richards added the force was “providing a proportionate policing response” and that officers were liaising with TfL to “identify new ways to prevent further cameras from being damaged or stolen.”
A protester holds a sign with Mayor Khan’s face with ‘No To ULEZ’ written across his forehead at Trafalgar Square on August 5, 2023 in London. (Martin Pope/Getty Images)
Notices protesting against the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) are displayed on a van on July 14, 2023 in London, England. (Carl Court/Getty Images)
As Breitbart London reported, the attacks on the cameras are coming at a price as they are damaged and “pushed… to face the sky” while monitoring equipment that counts the number of cars, bicycles, and pedestrians has been smashed, and bollards to prevent cars driving on roads have been vandalised, and keeping up with repairs is incurring a hefty bill.
A figure of £850,000 in damage since 2020 comes from the UK’s left-establishment Guardian newspaper, which requested information on what had been spent to repair damage to Low Traffic Neighbourhood (LTN) equipment from the city’s borough governments.
Attacks on ‘Low Traffic’ Cameras, Equipment Costs London Governments £850,000https://t.co/CPCJzb2X2w
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) August 16, 2023
Khan’s office said they don’t want to discuss the damage to the cameras because it gives those attacking them “the oxygen of publicity”, but said mobile cameras could be deployed to plug gaps if necessary.
Khan earlier this month announced increased financial support for owners of impacted vehicles, as political pressure mounted to do more to mitigate the burden of the extension amid the worst cost-of-living crisis in decades.
But opponents remain furious, with some predicting growing civil disobedience, emulating the so-called yellow jackets protests seen in France.