Funeral director from Oxfordshire forks out £500 for anti-Ulez numberplates

A funeral director from Oxfordshire forked out £500 for an anti-Ulez numberplate.

Ross Carnague-Winchcombe’s ‘NO 02 ULZ’ plate is currently fixed to his black VW 4x4, but will soon adorn his Ulez-compliant Fiat 500.

The 41-year-old from Tiddington, near Thame, said his work as a funeral director regularly took him to the capital, and he was not having to pass the £12.50-a-day Ulez fee onto bereaved families.

Oxfordshire funeral director Ross Carnague-Winchcombe spent £500 on the anti-Ulez plates Pictures: SWNS (Image: SWNS)

He said: "Having business in London is hard enough with the price of everything going up."

His family-run funeral directors' had two hearses and two limousines that, although modern, did not comply with the new London clean air regulations.

"[Sadiq] Khan offered a £9,000 scrappage allowance for each vehicle," Mr Carnague-Winchcombe said.

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"To replace all four would be approximately £360,000; 10 times more than was being offered.

"These costs will have to be passed on to our families, a lot of which are struggling to cope with the situation they are in as well as the cost of living crisis we find ourselves in."

Oxfordshire funeral director Ross Carnague-Winchcombe spent £500 on the anti-Ulez plates Pictures: SWNS (Image: SWNS)

Mr Carnague-Winchcombe added: "I contacted TfL about making funeral vehicles exempt from the charge, suggesting that at least the hearse was exempt.

"But sadly they weren’t interested."

Posting about his numberplate on Facebook, the undertaker described it as the ‘best £500 I’ve spent’.

He added of the illegally-spaced plate: "I’m sure the police will dislike it."