The owner of a family-run hotel has claimed the Ultra Low Emission Zone (Ulez) has had a major impact on his business, slamming the expanded scheme as “grossly unfair”.
West Lodge Park, located just 100 metres inside the newly expanded Ulez, has faced negative impacts on its customers, staff and suppliers.
Hotel owner Andrew Beale told GB News that local visitors to his hotel have been diminishing in numbers since August, when the expanded Ulez scheme came into force.
He also said it is having a significant impact on his staff, who are facing charges of up to £3000 per year.
WATCH: Richard Holden and Susan Hall speak to the owner of West Lodge Park hotel
In conversation with Conservative Mayoral candidate Susan Hall and Tory chairman Richard Holden, Beale said: “We have 105 staff here on site and 20 of them had non-ULEZ cars and they are hugely impacted by that.
“It is grossly unfair because typically they are at the lower end of the socioeconomic scale and they are the most affected.
“And they’re being charged up to £3,000 a year, I think now. It is £3,000, which is £12.50 times five days a week, times 48 weeks of the year, working. It’s so unfair.”
Asked by Holden and Hall if he has a message to Sadiq Khan, Beale said: “Well, the whole thing was brought in in a rush, was grossly unfair to those least able to pay. And he should have listened. He should listen to the people of London. So the message to Sadiq Khan is leave, please, and let Susan take over.”
In comments to GB News, he added: “This hotel is just 100 metres within the ULEZ zone and we are the most northern hotel in London and as such, we are hugely impacted.
“We’re impacted in three ways with customers, the staff and the suppliers.
“So customers, many of whom are coming in from outside of London to stay here on the edge of London, take the tube into central London, they have a much higher degree of non-ULEZ compliant cars, so they’re not going to be coming, they’ll be paying £12.50 when they arrive, £12.50 when they leave the next morning, that’s £25 extra on their bill.
“And then we have local people coming out to the restaurant bar for the banqueting functions, etc and they too have been diminishing in numbers since August the 29th when ULEZ went live.
“Anecdotally, a lot of older people in particular are just not going out like they used to. They’re scared.
“They’re nervous, they don’t know whether they’re going to get charged and they’re not coming as a result.”
Sadiq Khan implemented Ulez as part of a mission to improve air quality in London.
Defending the scheme at Peoples’ Question Time earlier this month, Khan said: “More than half of Londoners with asthma live in outer London. Twenty-four of the 30 GPS with the largest number of asthma patients are all in outer London.
“Nobody put up with dirty water, we shouldn’t put up with dirty air.”
ULEZ FURY:
Andrew Beale spoke to Conservative Mayoral candidate Susan Hall and Tory chairman Richard Holden
CCHQ
The Mayor also said he has put in “big changes” to support Londoners with non-compliant cars, including putting more money towards the scrappage scheme.
The scheme provides financial assistance to help eligible London residents scrap vehicles that don’t meet the Ulez emissions standards.
A spokesperson for the Mayor of London, said: “The Mayor has been clear that the decision to expand the Ultra Low Emission Zone London-wide was not an easy one, but necessary to tackle toxic air pollution. Around 4,000 Londoners die prematurely each year due to toxic air pollution, children are growing up with stunted lungs and thousands of people in our city are developing life-changing illnesses, such as cancer, lung disease, dementia and asthma.
“95 per cent of all vehicles seen driving across London on an average day now meet clean air standards and do not need to pay the daily ULEZ charge. For the remaining Londoners still driving non-compliant vehicles, millions of pounds of scrappage scheme support is still available from the Mayor’s £160m fund.
“The Mayor continues to call on the Government to fund a targeted national scrappage scheme and provide financial support to the Home Counties as it has done for other cities implementing Clean Air Zones, including Birmingham, Bristol and Portsmouth.”
