Transport for London (TfL) has generated more than £40 million from the London Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) since it launched in April.

Businesses and private motorists have been forced to cough up more than £30m paying the daily charge to drive in the Capital, alongside a further £10m in penalties for not paying.

A Freedom of Information request from Motorway.co.uk revealed that more than 2m non-compliant vehicles have paid the ULEZ charge since it was introduced in April.

Alex Buttle, director of car selling comparison website Motorway.co.uk, said: "While ULEZ was not about generating money for councils, it has nevertheless brought in more than £40m in charges and penalty notices in the six months since launch.  

“Schemes like ULEZ should always be about the health and well-being of people living in major urban areas.”

The ULEZ charge is applicable to cars and vans that fail to meet Euro 4 (petrol) or Euro 6 (diesel) exhaust emissions standards, and trucks and coaches that fail to meet Euro VI standards.

Car, motorcycle and van drivers who fail to pay the daily charge of £12.50, face a £160 fine, or £80 if paid within a fortnight. While, HGV and coach drivers, who have to pay a higher daily charge of £100, face a £1000 fine, or £500 if paid within 14 days.

Almost 32,000 drivers have received more than one penalty ticket since ULEZ was launched and the worst offender has amassed 81 penalty notices between May and August, which could lead to fines of up to £13,000.

Transport for London confirmed that until 10 May it issued warning notices rather than PCNs, because the ULEZ scheme was new.

The figures below highlight the revenue earned by the scheme but do not include the cost of running it.

Number of ULEZ charges purchased:

Month	ULEZ High	ULEZ Low	Total
April	8,301	337,812	346,113
May	11,864	484,843	496,707
June	10,195	459,572	469,767
July	10,504	453,973	464,477
August	7,236	340,104	347,340
Total	48,100	2,076,304	2,124,404

 

Total revenue raised from ULEZ charges:

Month	ULEZ High	ULEZ Low	Total
Apr	£ 830,100.00	£ 4,222,650.00	£ 5,052,750.00
May	£ 1,186,400.00	£ 6,060,537.50	£ 7,246,937.50
Jun	£ 1,019,500.00	£ 5,744,650.00	£ 6,764,150.00
Jul	£ 1,050,400.00	£ 5,674,662.50	£ 6,725,062.50
Aug	£ 723,600.00	£ 4,251,300.00	£ 4,974,900.00
Total	£ 4,810,000.00	£ 25,953,800.00	£ 30,763,800.00

 

PCNs issued per month for non-payment of the ULEZ daily charge:

Month	PCN
May	41,008
June	74,630
July	67,386
August	40,928
Total	223,952

 

Total revenue raised by PCNs per month:

Month	Sum of Amount Paid
May	£ 2,509,618.50
June	£ 3,896,540.50
July	£ 3,067,243.49
August	£ 1,148,599.50
Total	£ 10,622,001.99