Residents must pay £12.50 to leave their street due to Ulez camera.

Residents of Headley Close in Chessington, a quiet cul-de-sac tucked away at the edge of the city, are in shock at the sudden appearance of an Ulez camera. This camera will be charging people £12.50 every time they leave the cul-de-sac to go to work or return home.

The residents are outraged at this "bizarre" decision. As one of them put it, "it's crazy, it's crazy. Here we are, a little road that nobody knows about on the edge of the area."

The boundary anomaly of the Ulez means that once residents exit the street onto Chessington Road, they enter Surrey, in the borough of Epsom and Ewell. This makes Chessington an Ulez "island".

The Ulez has been championed by London Mayor Sadiq Khan as essential to bring down deaths linked to air pollution and combat climate change. However, residents are feeling the financial burden of the daily charge for drivers of the most polluting vehicles.

Lee Pattermore, who runs a landscaping business, now has to use a garage to help transport a modified Land Rover to local dirt tracks. He's already spent up to £70,000 to replace three of his 2016 vans to avoid the charge. He says, "It's out of order really. Both vans I've got are affected by it – I've got this van, and I've got a 16 plate, six months out. So that's really annoying."

Adding to the outrage is the beheaded Ulez camera found on a street nearby Headley Close, which had two cardboard signs strapped to it. One read: "Our local hero! Top man. Thank you! Up yours Khan!" and the other: "Whoever did this we owe you a pint. Cheers mate."

Police have launched an operation in April to investigate the theft and damage to the cameras. They are working closely with Transport for London to prevent further cameras from being damaged or stolen.

It remains to be seen whether the residents of Headley Close, or anyone else in the city for that matter, will be able to successfully challenge this Ulez charge. In the meantime, they have to bear the burden of this sudden imposition.

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