Londoners could face new pay per mile road pricing tax scheme, claims Tories

Mark Harper explains why Sadiq Khan is wrong on ULEZ

London motorists could soon be hit with a new road pricing tax scheme which will charge motorists for every mile they travel.

A new pay-per-mile system has been on the cards for months despite opposition to Sadiq Khan’s London ULEZ expansion.

No official announcement has been made on the scheme but the a Conservative councillor had predicted it could be in place by 2025.

Simon Fawthrop, a Conservative councillor from Bromley, has predicted the scheme could be introduced under a different name in an apparent bid to hide its true intention from drivers.

He told Express.co.uk: “His plan is to have road pricing in 2025. He’ll call it something else. He won’t call it road pricing, he won’t call it pay per mile. He’ll call it something else.

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“This is the bizarre thing, according to his own finances by 2027, so three years after this ULEZ is introduced basically, it is going to raise no money whatsoever.”

He added: “Also the great fear for people here is not what ULEZ is now. It’s what it will become in 2025.

“We know that they wanted to have road pricing, or pay per mile, whatever they want to call it.

“The Government say ‘oh we will stop him having road pricing’, but they haven’t said we will stop him having ULEZ. So that’s a little disappointing.”

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Back in February, Mr Khan admitted they were looking into the issue of a new charging system to replace the current ULEZ and Congestion Charge schemes at Mayor’s Question Time.

When asked about a London-wide road user charging system, Mr Khan said he had asked Transport for London to look into the issue.

He replied: “I have asked Transport for London (TfL) to investigate how we could replace existing schemes, including the Congestion Charge and the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ), with a single, integrated road user charging scheme that uses more sophisticated technology to make it as simple and fair as possible for customers.”

Answering a question from the London Assembly, Mr Khan also hinted that “ANPR (automatic number plate recognition) cameras could be used.

In the past, he has looked into the likelihood of Singapore-style toll roads but admitted it was “too clunky” for London.

However, he did admit that he wanted a new system which would charge drivers on a “bespoke basis”.

The Mayor of London’s Office denied that a road pricing system would be introduced. In a statement to Express.co.uk, a spokesperon said: “This is nonsense. The Mayor has been clear that there are no proposals on the table for such a scheme.”

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