Sadiq Khan has refused to send cars destined for the scrapheap under Ulez to Ukraine, where they are needed on the front line.
The Mayor of London blocked plans to send vehicles - typically 4x4s and pick-up trucks - to the war zone.
Motorists can claim a one-off payment of £2,000 to scrap their car which does not comply with Ulez regulations.
Those non-compliant vehicles which includes diesel cars registered before September 2015 and petrol cars registered before January 2006, must pay a daily charge of £12.50.
Sadiq Khan has refused to send cars destined for the scrapheap under ulez to Ukraine where they are needed on the front linePAVitali Klitschko, the mayor of Kyiv wrote to Khan in September following the launch of the scrappage scheme asking if some of the vehicles could be donated to Ukraine.
He said the move would have “enormous potential” and be used in a “variety of life-saving and transport roles”.
However, Khan responded to the request stating that he could not comply because it did not meet the “legal threshold” that requires the Ulez scrappage scheme to benefit Londoners from an “economic, social and environmental perspective”.
The Conservative candidate for mayor of London, Susan Hall has criticised Khan's decision.
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"Sadiq Khan’s refusal to send scrapped Ulez cars to Ukraine, citing a legal quirk, is absurd," she told the Telegraph.
"Londoners who choose to scrap their cars should have the freedom to decide for themselves if they want their car sent to support Ukraine.
"Standing with Ukraine against tyrants like Putin is not only a moral imperative but also in the best interest of all Londoners and the global community."
Richard Lofthouse, who works with Car for Ukraine, a volunteer initiative which delivers 4x4s and trucks to the front line, said Khan had shown a “lack of political courage”.
The Ulez scheme expanded on earlier this year
PAHe said: "Presumably it’s no bad thing and no ‘disbenefit’ for Londoners to actually show solidarity with another free state fighting tyranny.
"Rather than only line the greedy pockets of private scrapyard merchants who are receiving thousands of perfectly good cars as the result of the scrappage scheme subsidy."
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, volunteers from organisations such as Car for Ukraine have been driving donated 4x4s and larger vehicles to the war zone for soldiers on the front line.
Gareth Johnson, the MP for Dartford who introduced a private members’ Bill to overturn the Ulez expansion, added: "I am gobsmacked. The vast majority of Londoners would want to see vehicles that can help the people of Ukraine in their difficult time. This is bureaucracy gone mad and it’s an astonishing decision by Sadiq Khan."
