Because the finish of January, the car scrappage scheme has dedicated almost £18m to low-income and disabled Londoners, and small companies and charities to assist them take a few of the most polluting automobiles from London’s roads.

Whereas £13.5m has been allotted for drivers of vans and minibuses, the bulk going to assist small companies, greater than £4m has been dedicated to Londoners who personal non-compliant automobiles and bikes.

Total, 4,833 functions have been permitted via the scheme, with £17,727,500 dedicated to this point.

Based mostly on earlier schemes, there may be often a rise in functions nearer to implementation. With simply over 4 months to go till the ULEZ expands, there are nonetheless tens of tens of millions of kilos left within the scrappage fund and TfL continues to advise drivers to verify their car’s compliance and profit from the Mayor’s scrappage scheme.

Drivers have been heeding TfL’s recommendation to verify their car’s compliance, with greater than 8m visits to TfL’s car checker for the reason that Mayor confirmed that the ULEZ would increase. With most petrol automobiles underneath 16 years previous and diesel automobiles underneath six years previous already assembly the emission requirements, many drivers have been discovering that their automobiles are compliant with the ULEZ.

The £110m scrappage scheme was launched to assist smaller companies, sole merchants, charities, Londoners on decrease incomes and disabled Londoners in changing their older, extra polluting automobiles with greener choices. The scheme helps Londoners on decrease incomes or who obtain incapacity advantages scrap automobiles and bikes, and sole merchants, micro-business or charities scrap or retrofit vans and minibuses.

Extra Londoners could possibly be eligible for the scheme on the on the idea of their revenue than they realise. Eligibility can differ relying on private circumstances, reminiscent of whether or not they dwell alone or have youngsters, however regardless, eligibility is extra seemingly for these renting their houses.

Evaluation reveals that many individuals could possibly be eligible for scrappage who don’t realise it and TfL urges everybody to verify the TfL web site to see if they will entry the scheme.

The London-wide ULEZ is important to deal with the triple challenges of air air pollution, the local weather emergency and congestion. The newest TfL knowledge reveals that 90 per cent of automobiles seen driving in outer London on a mean day already meet the requirements. That is anticipated to be even larger when the scheme goes dwell later this yr.

Deputy Mayor for Atmosphere & Vitality, Shirley Rodrigues, stated: “Round 4,000 Londoners die yearly on account of our poor high quality air, and it contributes to a variety of significant well being circumstances from bronchial asthma, to most cancers, to dementia.

“Whereas 9 in 10 automobiles seen driving every day in outer London are already ULEZ-compliant, I’m happy that 1000’s of householders of non-compliant automobiles have already utilized to our scrappage scheme.

“My message to Londoners at the moment is that there’s loads of funding nonetheless out there and it’s possible you’ll be entitled to the scrappage scheme and never realise it. So I urge folks to go surfing at the moment and see in the event that they may be eligible for 1000’s of kilos to scrap their polluting car.”

Christina Calderato, TfL’s Director of Technique and Coverage stated: “It’s nice to see that scrappage grants are already enjoying a big position in supporting smaller companies, these on low incomes, disabled folks and charities to prepare for the enlargement.

“Whereas the overwhelming majority of automobiles driving in outer London on a mean day are compliant, I urge drivers to make use of our car checker and if they’ve a non-compliant car, verify their eligibility for the scrappage scheme to assist them make the change to greener and cleaner journey.”

Alex Achilleos, Managing Director of Inside Out Eventz Ltd primarily based within the London Borough of Enfield, stated: “We offer catering providers for weddings, features and company occasions. Our vans are a significant instrument in serving to us supply elements and provides together with transporting our meals and tools on time for a seamless occasion. The scrappage scheme has enabled us to take one in every of our older, polluting vans off the street and purchase one which meets the ULEZ requirements. As a household enterprise we’re happy to have the ability to contribute to the motion that’s being taken to wash up the capital’s poisonous air and defend the well being of future generations.”

Tuan Pham, Director of the Samuel Montagu Youth Centre primarily based within the Royal Borough of Greenwich, stated: “We offer important providers to younger folks in Kidbrooke and round London. Our centre helps individuals who may be liable to being excluded from college or lack alternatives to attain their full potential. We give younger folks confidence via a variety of sporting programmes, together with boxing periods. We use a minibus to move those that use our centre to varied sporting fixtures and occasions. The scrappage scheme has allowed us to take our car off the street and supply us with cash in direction of one which meet the requirements. Our work focuses on establishing folks for the longer term, so we’re happy to have the ability to make this contribution to bettering atmosphere.”

The £110m scrappage scheme builds on the earlier £61m scrappage scheme that helped to take away greater than 15,200 older, extra polluting automobiles from London’s roads. The analysis survey of the Automobile and Bike Scrappage Scheme confirmed it was efficient in lowering car possession, with a 3rd of respondents not buying a alternative car. The earlier scrappage scheme additionally helped to extend public transport use, with survey respondents reporting a lower in automobile journey and a rise in strolling, biking and public transport use.

Whereas there are numerous compliant vans available on the market, homeowners of non-compliant vans and wheelchair accessible automobiles don’t want to purchase a brand new van and could also be eligible for a £5,000 grant to retrofit their car and make it’s compliant with the requirements. It will be certain that extra sole merchants, smaller enterprise, charities and disabled Londoners can use much less polluting automobiles and fewer vans have to be scrapped. All automobiles which might be scrapped via the scheme are required have a goal of at the very least 95 per cent recycling and restoration, and usually tend to be in direction of the tip of their working life as newer automobiles would have extra resale worth.

Along with offering a grant for scrapping or retrofitting a polluting car, people can select to obtain as much as two annual bus and tram passes along with a decrease grant for the next worth package deal. The scheme additionally supplies entry to a variety of unique presents and presents for Londoners not eligible for the scheme. TfL has secured a variety of nice offers that may assist lower your expenses and use greener, cleaner types of transport. Cash might be saved on issues like rent and subscription providers for bikes, e-bikes, cargo bikes and e-scooters and reductions on automobile golf equipment.