Met Police record nearly 300 crimes against ULEZ cameras

Met Police in London have recorded nearly 300 criminal acts against London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) cameras.

This comes as vigilantes who oppose the new measures target enforcement cameras installed by Transport for London (TfL).

These vigilantes describe themselves as ‘Blade Runners’ and are known for cutting wires and removing the devices completely.

Around 2750 cameras have been installed in areas the new standards are set to affect from August 29.

2750 ULEZ enforcement cameras have been installed in London (Yui Mok/PA Wire) (Image: Yui Mok/PA Wire)

The Met Police launched an operation in April after the TfL reported criminal damage to the cameras.

Met Police calls the actions ‘unacceptable acts of criminality’

The force said that some 288 crimes relating to this had been reported since August 1.

This includes 185 cases of cable damage and 164 cases of the cameras being stolen.

Commander Owain Richards of the Metropolitan Police said: “These are clearly unacceptable acts of criminality and we have a team of officers investigating and identifying those responsible.

“We are providing a proportionate policing response, balancing these incidents against the wide range of operational demand and crime we must respond to across London.

“We are working closely with Transport for London and – alongside our investigation into offences already committed – we are supporting them to identify new ways to prevent further cameras from being damaged or stolen.

“We are continually reviewing where we need to focus our efforts and we will continue to do that over the coming weeks to ensure we are providing the service Londoners expect from us.”

London Police launched an operation in April in response to ULEZ camera vandalism (Lucy North/PA Wire) (Image: Lucy North/PA Wire)

This comes amid the emergence of images showing ULEZ camera cables being reinforced through the use of black boxes.

Scotland Yard also released images of a man they want to track down in connection with four camera offences in Hillingdon.

To give information anonymously contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or at the crimestoppers-uk.org website.

Recently, figures obtained by the RAC showed that more than 690,000 licensed cars in the whole of London are likely to be non-compliant.

However, the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has previously described his decision to expand the ULEZ area as “very difficult” but insisted it would “see five million more Londoners being able to breathe cleaner air”.