London Mayor launches £23m scrappage scheme for vans

The Mayor of London has launched a £23 million (Rs 205 crore) van scrappage scheme to help small businesses meet the city’s new Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) rules.

The fund will be used to help small businesses – defined as those with fewer than 10 employees – based within the ULEZ to scrap older vehicles that don't meet the new rules and replace them with new machines, including electric ones such as the Nissan e-NV200 and the planned Vauxhall Vivaro electric.

Under the new central London ULEZ, which is due to come into force on 8 April next year and cut pollution in the capital, diesel vans that don't meet Euro 6 standards will have to pay £12.50 a day to drive in the zone.

London mayor Sadiq Khan has called on the Government to match the funding for the scrappage scheme, which he says would further cut pollution, and could provide evidence to support the introduction of similar schemes in other cities or nationwide.

Khan said that air pollution was “a national health crisis that is stunting the lung development of our children and leading to thousands of premature deaths", adding: "To truly get a grip on our lethal air, we need to take bold action.”

The scheme was welcomed by the AA, with president Edmund King saying: “Some small business that can't afford to switch their vans to cleaner Euro 6s have been taking the hit from higher road use charges and simply passing on the extra costs to their customers. This scheme gives them a route to cleaner vehicles.”

Also read: Vehicle scrappage policy unlikely to impact demand: Crisil

Steel ministry to set up 20 commercial vehicle scrapping centres across India