The new ‘inner London’ zone is 18 times the size of the current central London zone and is designed to tackle air pollution in some of London’s most densely populated areas.
The £12.50 daily charge is on top of the £15 Congestion Charge, which is designed to lower overall traffic in central London and mostly covers diesel cars that are more than six years old and petrol cars that are more than 15 years old.
Around 87 per cent of vehicles currently travelling in the zone already meet ULEZ standards and will therefore be exempt from the new charge, up from 39 per cent in February 2017 when plans for expansion were first announced.
ULEZ has now been expanded from central London, covering the same area as the Congestion Charge, up to - but not including - the North Circular and South Circular Roads. The scheme will operate 24 hours a day, every day of the year except Christmas Day.
Around 3.8 million people live within the new zone, which measures 380km squared...