Elderly driver fears they will ‘be a prisoner’ under ‘ridiculous’ ULEZ scheme

Farage Talks About The Ulez In The Part Of Rural London Where He Lives

An elderly motorist is concerned they will become a “prisoner” in their own home under Sadiq Khan’s new London Ultra Low Emissions Zone (ULEZ) expansion.

Armelle Thomas, a 77-year-old from Hillingdon believes the “ridiculous” new fees will make little difference to air quality while cutting off travel for residents.

Ms Thomas lives in the village of Harmondsworth, under the authority of Hillingdon borough and less than two miles from Heathrow Airport.

She admitted becoming “quite concerned” about the charges when news filtered through the plan would be expanded to Outer London.

Ms Thomas is concerned about being stuck in her home as she admitted there were very little public transport alternatives for locals without cars.

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She told The Times: “We have five villages. We haven’t got one bus that goes through the five villages. We have no public transport so the problem for us is we don’t have any choice so I don’t want to be really a prisoner of my home for the rest of my life.”

The scheme eventually launched on August 29 with residents forced to pay £12.50 per day to drive inside the charging zone. It is set to cost motorists £87.50 per week or around £375 per month if they use their vehicles every day.

Ms Thomas owns two Nissan Micra’s, one of them was built in 2001 and is not compliant inside the ULEZ zone.

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Her other vehicle, a 2007 Micra, is ULEZ-complaint but the 77-year-old claims she is “still learning how to drive it”.

Before Mayor Khan changed the rules, Ms Thomas was not entitled to any scrappage scheme funds because she did not receive any benefits.

The resident has questioned the Mayor of London’s motivation for the scheme for those living so close to an airport.

She added: “I’m doing about 700 miles within Hillingdon but what is absolutely ridiculous is I live next to the second most polluting airport in the works, namely Heathrow.

“My 700 miles are not going to make any difference. If you are actually going to do it out of health and I want everyone to be healthy you have to scrap now all the cars that are not ULEZ-free.

“This is the only way to explain the health impact, It is not the way… It’s ridiculous to say it’s about health and then charge you £12.50.”

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