Ulez camera attack caused car accident that hurt child, police say

AN ATTACK on a Ulez camera and a set of traffic lights led to a child being injured in a car accident, police said.

The Metropolitan Police urged “the people carrying out these crimes to stop immediately” after the attacks, including one in which a camera was blown up using an improvised explosive device. The collision occurred shortly before 8.30am yesterday at the junction of Old Priory Avenue and Court Road in Orpington, south-east London. Hours earlier, five sets of traffic lights were cut down at the same location.

Ch Insp Prita Shoma said: “Two police units, who should have been available to answer 999 calls, were instead required to spend the morning managing traffic.

“The people who are carrying out this criminal damage are putting the public at risk.

“This morning, there has been a collision between two cars on Court Road, at the location of one of the damaged traffic lights, in which a child was injured.

“I would urge the people carrying out these crimes to stop immediately.”

The latest incident comes after eight sets of lights in Bromley were chopped down early on Monday morning.

Groups of vigilantes calling themselves Blade Runners have been vandalising cameras used to enforce the Mayor of London’s ultra-low emission zone.

In December, counter-terrorism police were called to a Ulez camera site in Sidcup after a bomb was planted on one of the devices, sending shrapnel flying into nearby houses and vehicles.

A60-year-old man from Sidcup and a 61-year-old man from Horsham were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to cause an explosion likely to endanger life or property.

A Met police spokesman said: “Police were called shortly before 8.30am on Thursday Jan 18. Two vehicles were involved in a collision.

“An adult and a six-year-old girl were taken to hospital to be treated for head injuries.

“Their condition has been assessed as non life-threatening.”

Transport for London’s 3,200 Ulez cameras are linked to a computer system that automatically fines drivers who haven’t paid the £12.50 fee within three days of being detected. Only the most modern cars, including electric vehicles, are exempt from the Ulez tax.

The vandalism followed a spate of attacks on Ulez cameras across the borough. The Met said it had recorded 795 crimes relating to Ulez cameras between April and September last year.

Of these, 200 were reports of cameras being stolen and 595 involved cameras being damaged.