In the United Kingdom, applicants to a grant program introduced by London Mayor Sadiq Khan to encourage the retirement of polluting cars report that they have been left without the funds while waiting for payouts to be processed.
Older cars that do not satisfy emissions regulations risk a daily £12.50 (about $15) fee if driven in London's Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ).
The £160 million ($198 million) scrappage program pays qualified owners £2,000 ($2,475) to replace their non-compliant vehicles. It was made available to all eligible owners in August, just before the Ulez was extended, but many applicants allege that bureaucratic blunders have saddled them with overwhelming daily fees.
Contacted applicants have told the Guardian that they have been repeatedly rejected for baseless grounds and have had to wait weeks for the award.
Complaints From Applicants
Vehicles pass by a sign indicating the new boundary of the LEZ and ULEZ expansion on August 29, 2023 in London, England
Independent truckers who use vehicles older than those required by Ulez say the wait times have made it impossible to stay in business. The daily Ulez fee creates financial difficulty for one individual who has been waiting six weeks for his claim to be granted and who, without the grant, cannot afford to replace his vehicle.
Sometimes, the insurance company would incorrectly inform an individual that their claim was unable to be processed because her vehicle was listed as off-road (SORN).
In certain situations, the insurance and MOT on cars expired during the processing delays, and owners were asked to renew both and submit a new application.
Those who have filed complaints have said that claims have been unduly blocked by Transport for London's (TfL) flawed procedures and unclear instructions. While it is clear from the TfL website that valid driver's licenses are required, it is not clear that paper licenses are not accepted. Motorcycle riders claim they are unable to complete the scrappage process because their paperwork is not recognized.
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One Instance
Susan (not her complete name) told the Guardian she had to wait eight weeks for a decision that should have taken 10 working days because of a mistake made by Capita, the company managing the program on behalf of TfL.
After submitting her claim, she waited a week to get confirmation that it had been approved. Later that day, she received another message saying her application had been denied and requesting that she resubmit two pages from her logbook.
Two weeks later, they sent an email permission letter asking them to provide evidence that they had demolished the car before the end of the month, and so they did. However, "a week later, we received an email rejecting our original application and asking for the same two pages we'd already sent twice," Susan stated.
She complied again but was subsequently informed that her application had been deemed "incomplete" and hence had expired. But, since the car had been demolished, they were unable to respond to the rejection letter's invitation to reapply.
After much waiting, Susan got her grant, but later that day, she was advised that the application had been denied. TfL said that a paperwork mix-up was to blame.
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