Revealing the precise location of Sadiq Khan’s Ulez enforcement cameras would result in them being vandalised or chopped down even more quickly than is already happening, the High Court was told on Wednesday.
Transport for London has been hit by an epidemic of attacks on the 1,750 numberplate-reading cameras it is installing across outer London in preparation for the expansion of the ultra-low emission zone to the Greater London boundary on August 29.
About 100 attacks have resulted in more than 200 cameras being vandalised or removed from the top of traffic signals. Police have been investigating, and at least one man has been charged with criminal damage.
TfL’s contractors have begun to use “cherry picker” lorries to erect the cameras well above the road - about 50ft high in areas such as the A206 in Woolwich town centre.
TfL has consistently refused to provide the camera locations – including to the borough councils challenging the Ulez expansion.
During the High Court judicial review into the Ulez expansion, the judge, Mr Justice Swift, asked TfL’s barrister Ben Jaffey KC why the locations had been kept secret.
Mr Jaffey replied: “The reason for that is because unfortunately people have a hobby of tearing down the cameras.
“If the exact location of the cameras is mapped, their survival time is greatly reduced.”
The court was told that TfL had 237 cameras in the congestion charge zone in central London, and “approximately 1,156 cameras to enforce the Ulez in the ‘middle ring’” – up to the inner boundary of the North and South Circular roads.
In addition, there were 106 cameras “enforcing the low emission zone only”. It is in the process of erecting 1,750 new cameras to enforce the Greater London Ulez – 750 on the London boundary and 1,000 on main roads and key junctions inside outer London.
Mr Jaffey said that drivers of non-compliant would be able to avoid paying the Ulez if they knew where the cameras were located.
“The number is such that it would be possible to evade the existing Ulez charge if everybody knew where they were,” he told the court.
Mr Jaffey appeared to suggest that some of the new cameras were already being used to assess the number of non-compliant vehicles in outer London.
Previously, Mr Khan – who is not in court – and TfL have sought to assure motorists that the new cameras will not be switched on if and until the UIez expansion goes ahead.
Mr Jaffey suggested that data gathered by the new cameras backed up TfL’s modelling which suggested that more than 90 per cent of cars driving in outer London already meet the Ulez exhaust rules and will not be liable for the £12.50 a day charge.
“Around one-third of the outer London cameras have been installed,” Mr Jaffey said. “TfL can continue to analyse the data. They have concluded that their modelling is accurate.”
The judicial review hearing is due to conclude on Wednesday afternoon, with judgement reserved until a later date.
