The anti-Ulez “Blade Runners” group has begun boxing in ultra-low emission zone enforcement vans so they cannot catch motorists.
Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, is locked in a battle with vigilantes opposed to the scheme, which was expanded to all London boroughs last month.
With Ulez cameras being stolen, toppled or painted over throughout the capital, the Labour Mayor has deployed vans with cameras mounted on their roofs. Some of the Transport for London (TfL) vehicles have been vandalised with paint, their tyres deflated and their cameras covered.
“Blade Runners” who have been vandalising the scheme’s infrastructure have been boxing in the vans with much larger vehicles to block the line of sight of the automatic number plate cameras.
Videos and pictures posted on social media over the last week show two Ulez enforcement vehicles on Arbuthnot Lane in Bexleyheath, south-east London, boxed in by giant vans, rendering their cameras useless.
A boxed-in Ulez enforcement vehicle on Arbuthnot Lane in Bexleyheath, south-east London It suggests a change of tactic from undercover attacks on Ulez infrastructure in the middle of the night towards non-law breaking actions in daylight.
In one video this week, an exasperated Ulez van worker with a body camera is seen calling his manager, asking him to “just get here”.
Another man then arrives on the side of the carriageway with a tin of white paint and is shown painting over the already boxed-in van’s camera lens and windscreen.
One of the vans boxing it in had a sign warning passing motorists of the “Ulez car”, with some tooting their horns in support.
The Metropolitan Police recorded a total of 510 crimes against Ulez cameras between April 1 and Aug 31, with a spike in numbers throughout last month.
It comes as Mr Khan gears up to address the Climate Ambition Summit in New York on Wednesday, when he will say that cities can be “climate titans” and use their “might and muscle” to battle rising temperatures.
He will warn that the current situation is “grave” and “nothing short of self-harm on a planetary scale”, adding: “We’ll continue to be the climate doers, not the delayers of our time.
“It’s easy to get angry at the dither and delay from some quarters. But our cities offer grounds for hope, because we’re the ones willing to make the tough calls.”
On the Ulez expansion, he is expected to claim: “Pushing this through wasn’t easy. But the time for action is now”.
A TfL spokesman said there is “an extensive camera network, which is sufficient to support the effective operation of the scheme”, adding: “We are aware of recent attempts to block our mobile camera units.
“This incident was reported to the police and resulted in the other vehicles being moved on. Such incidents will not stop the Ulez operating London-wide.”
