Cars to Ukraine scheme launch cancelled ahead of London mayoral election

The launch event of Sadiq Khan’s Ulez-cars-to-Ukraine scheme has been cancelled ahead of the London mayoral elections.

An event was scheduled to take place in Dorking to mark the first batch of cars from the scheme leaving Britain for Ukraine.

But it has now been cancelled because of restrictions on pre-election publicity ahead of the London mayoral polls on May 2.

The event cancellation comes after volunteers raised concerns about the slow speed of the Ulez scrappage donations scheme.

So far just 44 cars have been handed over by Transport for London (TfL) to British-Ukrainian Aid (BUA), the charity running the scheme on its behalf since it opened on March 15, The Telegraph can reveal.

The scheme has been criticised by British volunteers who have set up informal networks for donating hundreds of cars and vans to Ukraine.

Tom Wozniak, a volunteer with Liberty Trucks Ukraine, which has so far sent 380 trucks to the Eastern European country, said: “My understanding from the other guys was that TfL was expecting about 3,000 Ukraine-appropriate vehicles to come through the scheme. Yet we’re into week five, and 44 have been accepted.”

Andrew Boff, the Conservative London Assembly member, claimed the official donation scheme had been beset by “the worst pettifogging stuff you’ve ever seen in your life” from the outset.

A contact living near Lviv, western Ukraine, told him earlier this year she was “really looking forward to seeing these British vehicles”, Mr Boff said.

He continued: “I couldn’t look her in the face because I knew that the only thing that was stopping those vehicles was all this bloody bureaucracy and excuses not to do things”.

Mr Khan reluctantly introduced the Ulez scrappage donation scheme in February after Mark Harper, the Transport Secretary, dismissed the London mayor’s claim that there was a legal barrier to launching it.

Londoners can take advantage of TfL’s Ulez scrappage scheme, which pays £2,000 per non-compliant car handed in for destruction.

Since March 15, people using the scrappage scheme can tick a box to donate their car to Ukraine.

A source from BUA said on Thursday that the launch event for its first convoy had been postponed because of the mayoral elections.

A TfL spokesman said: “Due to pre-election restrictions, TfL was unable to support British Ukrainian Aid (BUA) in publicising their work at this time. Therefore, BUA decided to postpone their event until after the election.”

Around 40,000 cars have been handed in under the Ulez scrappage scheme that began last year, Mr Boff said.