For the reason that finish of January, the automobile scrappage scheme has dedicated almost £18m to low-income and disabled Londoners, and small companies and charities to assist them take a number 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 authorized by means of the scheme, with £17,727,500 dedicated so far.

Based mostly on earlier schemes, there may be normally 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 automobile’s compliance and benefit from the Mayor’s scrappage scheme.

Drivers have been heeding TfL’s recommendation to verify their automobile’s compliance, with greater than 8m visits to TfL’s automobile checker for the reason that Mayor confirmed that the ULEZ would broaden. With most petrol automobiles beneath 16 years outdated and diesel automobiles beneath six years outdated already assembly the emission requirements, many drivers have been discovering that their automobiles are compliant with the ULEZ.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 help 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 may very well be eligible for the scheme on the on the premise of their earnings than they realise. Eligibility can fluctuate relying on private circumstances, akin to whether or not they stay alone or have youngsters, however regardless, eligibility is extra probably for these renting their properties.

Evaluation reveals that many individuals may very well 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 sort out the triple challenges of air air pollution, the local weather emergency and congestion. The newest TfL information reveals that 90 per cent of automobiles seen driving in outer London on a median day already meet the requirements. That is anticipated to be even greater when the scheme goes stay later this yr.

Deputy Mayor for Surroundings & Power, Shirley Rodrigues, mentioned: “Round 4,000 Londoners die yearly because of our poor high quality air, and it contributes to a variety of great well being situations from bronchial asthma, to most cancers, to dementia.

“Whereas 9 in 10 automobiles seen driving each day in outer London are already ULEZ-compliant, I’m happy that 1000’s of homeowners 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 is also eligible for 1000’s of kilos to scrap their polluting automobile.”

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

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

Alex Achilleos, Managing Director of Inside Out Eventz Ltd based mostly within the London Borough of Enfield, mentioned: “We offer catering companies for weddings, features and company occasions. Our vans are a significant device in serving to us supply substances and provides together with transporting our meals and tools on time for a seamless occasion. The scrappage scheme has enabled us to take one among 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 shield the well being of future generations.”

Tuan Pham, Director of the Samuel Montagu Youth Centre based mostly within the Royal Borough of Greenwich, mentioned: “We offer important companies to younger folks in Kidbrooke and round London. Our centre helps individuals who is likely to be vulnerable to being excluded from college or lack alternatives to realize their full potential. We give younger folks confidence by means of a variety of sporting programmes, together with boxing periods. We use a minibus to move those that use our centre to numerous sporting fixtures and occasions. The scrappage scheme has allowed us to take our automobile off the street and supply us with cash in the direction of one which meet the requirements. Our work focuses on organising folks for the long run, so we’re happy to have the ability to make this contribution to enhancing 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 Automotive and Motorbike Scrappage Scheme confirmed it was efficient in lowering automobile possession, with a 3rd of respondents not buying a alternative automobile. The earlier scrappage scheme additionally helped to extend public transport use, with survey respondents reporting a lower in automotive journey and a rise in strolling, biking and public transport use.

Whereas there are lots of compliant vans in the marketplace, house owners 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 automobile 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 must be scrapped. All automobiles which can be scrapped by means of the scheme are required have a goal of not less than 95 per cent recycling and restoration, and usually tend to be in the direction of the top of their working life as newer automobiles would have extra resale worth.

Along with offering a grant for scrapping or retrofitting a polluting automobile, people can select to obtain as much as two annual bus and tram passes along with a decrease grant for a better worth bundle. The scheme additionally gives entry to a variety of unique affords and affords 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 may be saved on issues like rent and subscription companies for bikes, e-bikes, cargo bikes and e-scooters and reductions on automotive golf equipment.