Sadiq Khan's Ulez advertising budget would pay for nearly two thousand years worth of vehicle charges, an analysis of the figures published by Transport for London has revealed.
The £9 million budget, published following a Freedom of Information Request, would pay for 720,000 Ulez fines, charged at £12.50 each. This amounts to a Ulez charge each day for 1,972.6 years.
The Mayor faced criticism today after the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) upheld complaints about claims made in two Transport for London (TfL) adverts, and one Greater London Authority (GLA) advert.
The ASA told both TfL and the GLA to make sure that claims made in marketing campaigns relate to relevant evidence more closely in future.
Sadiq Khan's Ulez advertising budget would pay for nearly two thousand years worth of vehicle charges, an analysis of the figures revealed
PA
Conservative Party London mayoral candidate Susan Hall said: "It is shameful that Sadiq Khan has consistently misled Londoners about his ULEZ expansion. It is nothing but a tax grab which only has a negligible effect on air quality.
"We know his staff leant on scientists to change their findings and he is taking hundreds of millions from the poorest Londoners. I will scrap the ULEZ expansion on day one of my Mayoralty, no ifs no buts."
City Hall Conservatives environment spokesman Tony Devenish added: “Sadiq Khan and TfL have been caught out making misleading and unsubstantiated claims about the benefits of ULEZ to Londoners.
"This shouldn’t surprise anyone. Sadiq Khan’s own report said the ULEZ expansion would do little for air pollution.
"Sadiq Khan also has a history of making misleading and false claims. After all, he told us he wouldn’t expand ULEZ to outer London but then did exactly that.
"Sadiq Khan can’t be trusted. He doesn’t deserve another four years as mayor. Eight years is more than enough.”
But TfL said it was "disappointed" with the ASA's ruling, saying that scientific analysis based on modelled scenarios.
It added that estimates was "standard practice" in the scientific community and central government.
A spokesman for Khan said: "The ASA is not challenging the science behind the advertisement, and we are confident that it contains nothing misleading. The advert went through a robust policy and industry approval process.
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"Studies from global institutions have shown that exposure to air pollution, even at low levels, is very damaging to people's health. We are satisfied with the science behind the claim and how we presented it."
A total of 504 complaints about six TfL ads and 38 complaints about the GLA advert were received by the ASA. Only some of them were upheld.
The Mayor's Office has been contacted for comment.