GMB union boss savages Labour mayor Sadiq Khan over 'unfair' Ulez

GMB union boss savages Labour mayor Sadiq Khan over ‘unfair’ Ulez expansion in London as he warns it is hammering NHS staff and other struggling workers

GMB general secretary Gary Smith said fee was worrying workers

A senior trade union leader has lashed out at the expansion of London’s Ulez vehicle charge by Labour mayor Sadiq Khan.

GMB general secretary Gary Smith said last month’s expansion of the £12.50 daily fee was worrying workers already being hammered by the cost-of-living crisis.

Mr Khan pressed ahead with the roll-out of the scheme to all London boroughs last month despite a wave of protests.

Mr Smith told Sky News’ Politics Hub with Sophy Ridge that he accepted the need to deal with air pollution and climate change but financial concerns also had to be taken into account.

‘We don’t want to have dirty air in our cities but we have to listen to the legitimate concerns of ordinary people many of whom are struggling to get by,’ he said.

‘And I listen to our delivery man drivers, other people who are doing deliveries in our city centres, I listen to workers who are on shifts, care workers in the NHS and many of them are concerned that ULEZ and the way it’s been introduced could put extra financial burden on them.

‘So we need to make sure that in any transition, it is done fairly, and people believe they’re getting a fair and reasonable deal. And that’s not what has happened so far.’

GMB g eneral secretary Gary Smith said last month’s expansion of the £12.50 daily fee was worrying workers already being hammered by the cost-of-living crisis.

Mr Khan pressed ahead with the roll-out of the scheme to all London boroughs last month despite a wave of protests.

Mr Khan extended the Ulez to cover the whole of the capital on August 29. Drivers who enter the area in vehicles that do not meet minimum emissions standards are required to pay a daily fee.

In the weeks before the expansion, Sir Keir Starmer called on Mr Khan to ‘reflect’ carefully on the policy, and said cities across the UK should look at other options for tackling air pollution instead of schemes similar to Ulez.

Anti-Ulez campaigners have been taking to the streets of London in protest, including supercar owners who drove their vehicles into Central London at the weekend.

The motorists led by Petrolheadonism Club founder Ciro Ciampi from Milton Keynes brought modified, classic vehicles and supercars to parade along Whitehall.

They drove from Regents Park to Downing Street to show the perceived hypocrisy at how some of their ‘supercharged monster’ cars do not have to pay the Ulez charge.

The event – one of many Ulez protests in the capital in recent months – was filmed by motoring journalist Shahzad Sheikh, who calls himself the ‘Brown Car Guy’.

Mr Ciampi told Mr Sheikh: ‘We’ve got to celebrate this moment. For people that are here protesting, wow, amazing, because they’ve been affected big time because they live within the M25. It’s just absolutely stupid that it’s been extended.

‘I’ve got a big event in Wembley, it’s going to affect my event next year. For me I’ve got a couple of cars that are not Ulez complaint and I’ve got to pay £12.50 if I come into London for my meetings and stuff like that.

‘But then I’ve got a V12 in the garage or my mate’s got this eight-litre V8 supercharged monster that is Ulez free. It’s not about clean air.

‘It’s absolutely somebody being a narcissist, jumped up, bloody-minded egotistical, arrogant mayor that just won’t listen to anybody.’

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