What London’s mayor learned when he took on the cars

This is really interesting, thanks for sharing.

I knew about the girl who died and her mother's campaign but didn't realise how central it was to Khan's push for this. I also didn't know his personal problems with asthma and pollution, or his additional security needs.

I've seen a lot of these campaigners around. They rolled through Epsom Town centre a few weeks ago and funnily enough, their vans completely blocked the crossing I was trying to use with my 4 year old on a very busy street making it very unsafe.

They've caused lots of annoyance with their constant horns, driving up local traffic unnecessarily and megaphones. I hear more hate for Just Stop Oil but can frankly say, they've never caused me personally any problems at all so funny isn't it...

This is the best summary I could come up with:

Called the London Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ), it imposed a daily charge of £12.50 (about $15) on highly polluting vehicles traversing the central parts of the capital and enforced the sanctions with roadside cameras.

Johnson, who had gone on from City Hall to become prime minister, vacated his seat in June, triggering a by-election in his constituency, Uxbridge and South Ruislip — on the border of West London, an area where the clean air zone was due to expand.

Advertising data on Facebook collated for POLITICO by Ben Collier, a researcher at the University of Edinburgh, shows interest groups on both sides took out hundreds of ads costing tens of thousands of pounds in 2023, dividing Londoners along culture war lines.

On a Saturday in October, I set out amid torrential rain to track down the legendary anti-ULEZ voters who had managed to drive a wedge through Labour, flip an election and reverse years of Conservative climate policy.

Reform UK mayoral candidate Howard Cox — a pro-car campaigner who has successfully fought government fuel duty rises for years — minced about in front of it, posing for photos, saying loudly: “I don’t approve of this.”

On a visit to a Brixton community scheme for disadvantaged school kids in October, I saw stocky men with earpieces fan out around the mayor as he made dad-level chat with two teenage girls about their love of trap dancing.

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