A south London electrician and father of three has pleaded guilty to publishing a Facebook post that encouraged the vandalism of Ulez cameras.
Joseph Nicholls, 43, of Foots Cray High Street, Sidcup, also admitted sending a threatening email to Yunex Traffic, a contractor used by Transport for London to run Mayor Sadiq Khan’s clean air scheme.
He pleaded guilty to the two charges at Woolwich Crown Court on Tuesday afternoon. He will be sentenced on September 20.
A third charge, similar to the charge he admitted in relation to the Facebook post, was ordered to lie on file at the request of the Crown Prosecution Service.
The judge, Mr Recorder Steven Kovats KC, adjourned the case for pre-sentence reports. He said that “all sentencing options” remained open.
Nicholls’ barrister, Claire Cooper, asked that a non-custodial sentence be considered. She said his “reasoning and thinking” in committing the offences were the key issues at stake.
The offences were committed last May or prior to then, about three months before the ultra-low emission zone was expanded Londonwide.
The expansion had provoked widespread vandalism of the new cameras, which were said in court to be worth £6,000, mostly in parts of outer London that were about to be included in the Ulez for the first time.
TfL has never previously revealed how much the cameras cost, nor how much it has spent repairing or replacing stolen or vandalised cameras.
There are more than 3,700 Ulez cameras across London, according to TfL.
The cameras are used to read the numberplates of vehicles spotted within the Ulez zone – allowing TfL to determine whether motorists who have failed to pay the £12.50-a-day levy should be sent £180 penalty fines.
Ed Butler, prosecuting, told the court that a “number of component parts of Ulez cameras” were found at Nicholls’ home when police executed a search warrant.
Mr Butler said it was not known at this stage how many parts from different Ulez cameras were found.
The court was told that Nicholls, who appeared in the dock dressed in a suit and tie, had a previous court caution for harassment dating from 2015.
Nicholls pleaded guilty to “intentionally encouraging or assisting the commission of an offence” by making posts on social media – the Facebook post – prior to May 10 last year.
According to the court charge sheet, this act or acts “were capable of encouraging or assisting others in the commission of one or more offences, namely criminal damage to or theft of Ulez cameras and/or components”.
He also pleaded guilty to “sending an electronic communication with intent to cause distress or anxiety” on May 5 last year. This related to an email he sent to Yunex Traffic Ltd, the court was told.
TfL, in a statement to the Standard on Tuesday evening, said: “We welcome this conviction and hope it acts as a warning to others thinking of trying to disrupt or damage the Ulez scheme, which is helping millions of Londoners breathe cleaner air.
“Damage and disruption of the Ulez scheme is unacceptable. Every incident on our network is reported to the police. Criminal damage to Ulez cameras puts the perpetrators at risk of prosecution and injury, while simultaneously risking the safety of the public.
“Camera vandalism will not stop the Ulez operating London-wide. All vandalised cameras are repaired or replaced as soon as possible.
“We have an extensive camera network which is sufficient to support the effective operation of the scheme.
“Anyone driving a non-compliant vehicle within the expanded zone will be detected and we advise everyone to check whether their vehicle is compliant and to consider the various support that is available to help transition to greener modes of transport.”
