Latest figures shared at a gathering of May 23 of Transport for London (TfL), British Ukrainian Aid (BUA) and other volunteer groups indicate that 132 vehicles have now been collected from Londoners, of which 67 have set off to Ukraine. TfL stated that of a total subsidy of £210 million for scrappage, £169 million has been allocated, leaving £41 million still to be spent down. This is a public subsidy for a public good, both London’s air quality and helping Ukraine. Because applications have slowed down a bit compared to last autumn, TfL estimates that this remaining sum of money will carry the scrappage scheme and its Ukrainian variant through to the end of August at least, possibly beyond. That last bit is partly good news because it indicates that we are less than halfway into this scheme.
Today, Friday May 24, marks ten weeks since the scheme went live on March 15. There was a consensus at the meeting that the results so far are weak, and you may have seen my last update to this petition. That said, with the Mayoral election and its purdah rules out of the way, there is greater scope now for marketing the scheme to Londoners and I encourage everyone to promote awareness of ULEZ2Ukraine – if anyone is eligible to scrap a vehicle somewhere within Greater London then they can give their vehicle to Ukraine, potentially SAVE A LIFE, and still get exactly the same pay-out from TfL as they would have anyway. There is a great shortage of vehicles in Ukraine and all the vehicles from the ULEZ scheme are deployed towards a humanitarian and medical purpose. Part of the problem has been poor public awareness of this rather extraordinary opportunity, to do something amazing and still get paid.
BUA also reported at the meeting that they have appointed a new team to run the scheme, as of May 1, and I am led to understand that other sorely needed governance reforms are planned that I expect will bring in new Trustees and leadership.
It’s not exactly clear what role other groups will have to play because the large transport of vehicles that we envisaged hinges on having large numbers of vehicles to transport. That said, a partnership agreement is in circulation, several aid groups are already working with BUA, and others focused on vehicle transport may still have a role. There is plenty of frustration around this reality, as would be natural. Expectations of the broader success of the scheme have so far fallen short. It's a war situation and if you listen to the radio show (linked below) you'll hear directly why this is a life or death situation in Ukraine. That's why every vehicle counts.
TfL will issue a fact sheet in the next week or two so I will publish another update when they are made available.
Of the 132 vehicles so far collected from Londoners and destined for Ukraine, 30% are cars; 25% are vans; 25% are larger format people carriers and 15% (or approximately 20) are 4x4s, both SUVs and pick-up trucks.
Monocle Radio has just aired a lovely segment devoted to this scheme, pulled together brilliantly by the journalist Julia Lasica for their popular podcast The Globalist (Episode 3338): https://monocle.com/radio/shows/the-globalist/3338/
The relevant bit begins at 38.44 and ends at 45.52. If you can promote it and tag in @Monocle_Radio (Twitter/X) the hashtag ULEZ2Ukraine, and @BritUkrAid that would all help here.