Vigilantes have been out wrecking or stealing Ulez cameras across Greater London (Image: Twitter)
A quarter of Sadiq Khan’s new ULEZ cameras are either damaged or missing as vigilantes step up their efforts to bring a halt to the ULEZ charge scheme.
At least 450 of the 1,762 cameras are thought to have been targeted by vandals, according to a crowd-sourced map.
There has been a huge backlash against the mayor of London’s loathed road charge scheme which expanded on Tuesday to encompass another five million Londoners.
The area, which is now supposed to be surveillance by the mayor’s cameras, is around 18 times' larger than it was before the expansion.
Anyone caught driving a vehicle which doesn’t match up to the scheme’s emission standard will be fined ￡12.50 a day or ￡180 if they fail to pay.
Vigilantes, including one group named the "Balaclava Blade Runners", have launched attacks on the cameras – spray painting or stealing them, or snipping their wires.
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Julie’s ULEZ map contains crowdsourced data including camera locations. The map now shows at least 450 of the 1,762 cameras either damaged or missing in the expansion zone.
According to the Telegraph, six out of 23 new boroughs in the ULEZ zone have had more than a third of their cameras targeted.
In total, 497 out of 2,692 cameras have been removed or are out of action across the entire Ulez zone, including both new and old parts of the scheme.
Bromley is the worst affected borough in London as 100 out of its 120 cameras are either missing or damaged.
Just one road in the borough had 14 cameras put out of action after they were smashed, spray painted or had wires cut out.
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Peter Fortune, London Assembly member for Bexley and Bromley in the Greater London Authority, wonders whether the high amount of damaged cameras might raise questions about how fair the scheme is.
He said: "You have to wonder if the scheme is fit for purpose. If they don’t have coverage across the area, then by definition it can’t be a Greater London-wide ultra-low emission zone.
"Is there an argument to say there is inequitable treatment across Greater London here.
He added: "I can’t condone any kind of illegal activity, and I wouldn’t condone any kind of criminal act pulling them down.
"I also wouldn’t condone the morally dubious act of putting them up in the first place, and think that has led to real frustration from people."
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