ULEZ scrappage would offer me only a tenth of my £20,000 classic BMW’s value

The Ultra Low Emissions Zone (ULEZ) scrappage scheme in London is heading for failure — with a £160 million bribe to get cars off the road only attracting just over 1 per cent of eligible motorists.

Only around 14,000 of the estimated one million drivers in London with cars that fail the ULEZ fuel emissions test have accepted the £2,000 grant to have their car towed away and destroyed in a scrap yard. 

There are 2.6 million motorists in London.

The main reason the scheme is being shunned is because it offers such a poor deal. The average non-ULEZ compliant vehicle is worth £5,200, according to the car trading website Carwow. 

So scrapping a car leaves drivers out of pocket. Others are thwarted by the red tape and confusing offers.

Classic: Shahzad Shiekh’s cherished 1989 BMW is non-ULEZ compliant – but he would be offered just £2,000 scrappage

London drivers — most of those living within the M25 with an address in one of the 32 boroughs or the City of London — with ‘non-compliant’ vehicles can apply for the £2,000 grant. 

If you have a motorbike it is £1,000. For petrol-driven motors it typically means cars built around or before 2005 and for diesel those made before 2015. 

The money does not have to be spent on a new eco-friendly car — it can simply be pocketed.

However, TfL is encouraging motorists to not only ditch old cars but to take public transport instead. 

It is offering owners of older cars £1,600 plus a single 12-month bus and tram pass for the capital worth as much as £900 as an alternative to the £2,000 — or £1,200 if you are willing to take two passes.

Small businesses or charities with less than 50 staff can claim more — £7,000 to scrap a van, £9,000 to scrap a minibus. 

If scrapping a wheelchair-accessible vehicle the grant can be worth £10,000.

How it works

All applications are made through the TfL website. You need to create a ‘road user charging’ account — putting in personal details including car registration number, bank or card payment information and a password. 

TfL says it aims to process this stage of the application within ten days. Next you must drive your vehicle to an ‘authorised treatment facility’ — council-speak for a scrap yard.

The scrap yard issues a ‘certificate of destruction’ to guarantee the vehicle is stripped of all its parts and crushed. 

You can ask the scrap merchant if they might give you extra money for it. The average scrap value of a car is £300 and can be pocketed on top of the £2,000 grant.

Fines: TFL is encouraging motorists to not only ditch old cars but to take public transport instead

Only after you have sent a copy of the certificate of destruction to the TfL will you get paid — a cheque for £2,000 will be sent by post. According to TfL it typically takes 20 days for the scrappage process to be completed.

Any scrapped vehicle must be registered with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) under your name at a London address where you have been living since January 30 last year. 

On top of this it must have an up-to-date MOT, road tax and be fully insured. To ensure opportunists do not just buy any old banger to try and make £2,000, only cars registered in London before January 30 last year can claim the cash — so some new owners could miss out.

 Those living outside the ULEZ zone — even if they drive into London every day — cannot claim the £2,000 grant.

A TfL spokesperson says: ‘More than 14,000 applications to the scrappage scheme have been approved. They are being processed in a matter of days.’

Jeremy Palliser, of Oxshott in Surrey, lives just inside the M25, but a few hundred yards out of the ULEZ zone. 

The retired fund manager, 63, says the congestion zone expansion will only add to his fuel bill as he must now drive further to avoid the £12.50 daily charge.

He says: ‘Sadiq Khan has an obsession with the congestion charge due to his own health problems as an asthma sufferer — but as someone who also suffers from this condition I don’t believe charging motorists to drive around London will make a jot of a difference. It is just another way to squeeze more money out of us.’

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This post first appeared on Dailymail.co.uk