London Mayor Sadiq Khan issued a high air pollution warning for Tuesday (24 January) and called on Londoners to “be careful over the next few days” and avoid unnecessary car travel. The UK capital has experienced moderate air pollution since the weekend, attributed to poor dispersion of vehicle emissions due to persistent cold, still, and foggy conditions. Pollution warning messages will be displayed on the Transport for London (TfL) public transport network and schools in the city will also be notified as part of the planned actions by the Mayor’s Office.
“Along with extremely cold temperatures on Tuesday, we are also expecting high levels of air pollution,” Khan said. To deal with it,” he said.
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“We all need to be careful in the next few days. I’m urging Londoners to look after each other by walking, cycling or choosing public transport where possible, avoiding unnecessary car journeys, keeping engines from idling, and not burning garden waste, all of which Contribute to high levels of pollution. This is especially important to protect people who are more sensitive to high pollution.”
The London Mayor’s air pollution forecasts are issued by Imperial College London as a combined forecast based on a number of public forecasters including the government’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Meteorological Office. The mayor’s office said London has the “world’s largest air quality monitoring network”, providing pollution forecasts and free live and archived air quality data to anyone who supports London’s air quality alert service.
The mayor said the latest alert shows why it is vital to expand the capital’s Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) across London to reduce toxic air pollution in the city. The ULEZ, as part of measures to reduce the city’s air pollution, is set to extend across London from August this year to the most polluting vehicles with a daily surcharge.
Under the ULEZ scheme, introduced in 2019, drivers are charged £12.50 to enter the area within London’s north- and south-circular orbital roads, which will be implemented across all London boroughs from later this year .
(With inputs from PTI)