TfL: Ref: FOI-2245-2324
Thank you for your request received by us on 26 September 2023, asking for information about the scrappage scheme.
Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Environmental Information Regulations (EIRs) and our information access policy. I can confirm that we hold the information you require.
Can you confirm that all vehicles that have been processed through the scrappage scheme, have actually been scrapped? If not, what has happened to these vehicles?
Under the rules of the TfL scrappage scheme, vehicles must be scrapped at an Authorised Treatment Facility (ATF). This must be confirmed by the scrappage applicant submitting evidence to TfL in the form of a Certificate of Destruction (CoD), as issued by the ATF, before a grant payment is issued. ATFs notify the DVLA that a vehicle has been destroyed and therefore the vehicle cannot be re-registered.
ATFs are bound by the End-of-Life (EOL) Vehicles Directive, that require these facilities to meet a target that at least 95 per cent of the vehicle is recycled and recovered. This is enforced by the Environment Agency (EA).
ATFs are obliged to scrap and recycle the vehicles once a CoD is generated and issued in line with the EOL Vehicles Directive. The EA audits sites and have unscheduled visits to sites occasionally to check processes and paperwork. Any failures or fraud by an ATF would result in the loss of their accreditation and ultimately result in loss of the ability to operate.
And can you please confirm why cash isn’t an acceptable form of payment for the ULEZ charges?
Cash has never been accepted as a form of payment for the ULEZ. It was a form of payment for the Congestion Charge until July 2013 when it was removed after a public consultation. At the time, the vast majority of payments for the Congestion Charge were made via Auto Pay or online with just four percent being paid by cash through retail stores. Ten years later an even higher proportion of charges are paid via Auto Pay. In January 2023, the £10 Auto Pay registration fee was removed to make it even easier for people to pay via this method and avoid the risk of receiving a Penalty Charge Notice for non-payment. Drivers can also pay the daily ULEZ charge over the internet, our Pay to Drive app and phone. An option to pay by cash wouldn’t be as secure or quick as the payment options we offer and would increase the scheme’s operating costs.
If this is not the information you are looking for, or if you are unable to access it for any reason, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal as well as information on copyright and what to do if you would like to re-use any of the information we have disclosed.
Yours sincerely
Eva Hextall
FOI Case Management Team
General Counsel
Transport for London
