A grant scheme launched by the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, for scrapping polluting vehicles is leaving hard-up households out of pocket as they wait for payouts to be processed, according to applicants.
Older vehicles that do not meet emissions standards incur a £12.50-a-day charge if they are driven in London’s ultra-low emissions zone (Ulez).
The £160m scrappage scheme offers eligible owners payments of £2,000 to replace non-compliant cars and avoid the charge. It was opened to all qualifying owners in August shortly before the Ulez was extended, but scores of applicants claim that administrative failings have left them facing crippling daily charges.
Applicants who have contacted the Guardian report multiple rejections for invalid reasons that have left them waiting weeks for the grant.
Susan (full name withheld) waited eight weeks for a decision that should have taken 10 working days after the scheme, managed by Capita on behalf of Transport for London (TfL), bungled her application.
A week after she had submitted her claim, she received an email approving the grant. On the same day, a second email told her that her application had been rejected and asked her to resubmit two pages from her logbook.
“Two weeks after that we received another emailed letter of approval reminding us to provide a proof that we’d scrapped the car before the end of the month,” she said.
“We therefore took the car to an approved scrapyard and uploaded the certificate of destruction on TfLs website. A week later, we received an email rejecting our original application and asking for the same two pages we’d already sent twice.”
She did so but was then told that her application had expired as it was “incomplete”. “The rejection letter invited us to apply again which we couldn’t do as the car had been scrapped,” she said.
The couple finally received the £2,000 – and on the same day another email informed them that their application had been rejected. Tfl blamed an administrative error.
Sole traders with older, non-Ulez-compliant vans claim they face being driven out of business by the delays. One, who has been waiting six weeks for his claim to be approved, said the daily £12.50 Ulez charge was causing him financial hardship and that without the grant he could not afford to replace his van.
“After two rejections, I’ve been told my latest application was escalated five weeks ago to the ‘back room’ and there is no way myself or TfL can contact them,” he said. “This is my livelihood we’re talking about.”
One woman was erroneously told that her claim was ineligible because her car was registered as off-road (SORN). In some cases, the insurance and MOT on vehicles expired during the processing delays and owners were ordered to renew both and submit a new application.
Complainants blame inadequate systems and unclear guidance from TfL for needlessly scuppering claims. The Tfl website states that driving licences must be submitted, but omits to mention that paper licences are not accepted, causing many applications to be rejected. Motorcyclists report being left in limbo because the system does not recognise their scrappage documentation.
Mike Wainer successfully applied for a grant to replace his elderly motorbike and took it to an approved scrapyard. “TfL requires a certificate of destruction once it’s been scrapped, but only cars qualify for this under DVLA rules,” he said. “For motorcycles you receive a notification of destruction. The scrapyard told me they have stopped scrapping motorcycles, as TfL has rejected their notifications of destruction, leaving the owner without a vehicle and out of pocket. After contact from the Guardian, TfL advised Wainer that it would accept the notification.
Those whose application is accepted report waits of up to six weeks for the grant cheque after they have scrapped their vehicles, leaving them unable to replace them.
TfL told the Guardian that it aimed to post grant cheques within 10 working days when a certificate of destruction was submitted and said it would look into updating its website to make the supporting evidence requirements clearer.
A spokesperson said: “We apologise to any customer that has experienced distress due to delays in the processing of their application to our £160m Ulez scrappage fund. We regularly review our application process and always consider any further ways to streamline our handling of applications.
Capita was approached for a comment.
