Khan finally allows non-Ulez Attenborough back with the cars to be sent to Ukraine mammals in new BBC series

defeNCe editor

SADIQ KHAN has finally allowed cars set to be scrapped under the Ulez scheme to be sent to Ukraine.

The Mayor of London confirmed that Transport for London (TfL) has been instructed to amend the scrappage scheme for the Ultra Low Emission Zone (Ulez) so that non-compliant 4x4s can be used in Ukraine to support humanitarian and medical efforts.

It comes after Mark Harper, the Transport Secretary, suggested Mr Khan was blocking the export, after he had initially cited a legal barrier when the idea was first put to him.

revealed how in September last year Mr Khan had declined a suggestion by Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of Kyiv, to send some of the nonUlez compliant vehicles to Ukraine rather than the scrap heap.

Mr Khan had originally said he did not believe that altering the Ulez scheme for exporting vehicles would be possible under current laws, which stated motorists could claim a one-off payment of £2,000 if they scrap a vehicle that does not comply with the controversial pollution levy. Now, five months after the idea was initially sug- gested, TfL will make the necessary amendments.

It comes after Mr Harper told Mr Khan there was no “legal barrier” to cars being donated to Ukraine through the Ulez scrappage scheme.

Mr Khan says these plans, which could be launched in weeks, “will help meet medical and humanitarian needs while also helping to remove old polluting vehicles from London’s roads”.

Applicants will be able to donate vehicles that are not Ulez compliant in return for the same grant payment available to drivers who scrap or retrofit their vehicles. The donated vehicles will be transferred to Ukrainian authorities and their partners for humanitarian and medical needs.

London Ambulance Service (LAS) is planning to join the effort by donating 50 decommissioned ambulances to Ukraine by the end of the summer.

Mr Khan said: “Two years on from Russia’s devastating illegal invasion of Ukraine, I continue to do all I can to help those affected, including supporting Ukrainians seeking help in London and signposting where Londoners can make donations.”

SIR DAVID ATTENBOROUGH will return to delve into the lives of “instantly relatable” mammals in a new show, the BBC has said.

In the six-part series, the 97-year-old naturalist and broadcaster will explain the behaviour of mammals from the small Etruscan shrew to the giant blue whale.

His first series of programmes about them ended more than 20 years ago.

In first broadcast in November 2002, Sir David travelled around the world, and in one memorable scene was shown clinging on to his little boat as a 30-metre whale passed by.

In the new show, he looks at different environments in the episodes, Dark, Cold, Heat, Water, Forest and The New Wild, and animals from the miniature tenrecs of Madagascar to the humpback whales of the Indian Ocean.

BBC executive producer Roger Webb said: “Being mammals ourselves, the animals featured in the series and the stories told about them are instantly relatable. It’s impossible not to admire a mother capuchin monkey who’s able to provide her baby with a drink in a dry, sun-baked forest or a chimpanzee father giving his family a lesson in finding honey buried underground.

“This connection to us makes

an incredibly engaging and compelling piece of television, one that will also lead us to question our role in the lives of the wild mammals we share the planet with.”

The final instalment of the series looks at how “mammals are adapting to a world dominated by humans, arguably the most successful mammal of all”.

It includes “the great apes, the big cats, dolphins, whales as well as the mythical wolverine and adorable tenrec”, according to series producer Scott Alexander. It is made by BBC Studios Natural History Unit and co-produced by BBC America, ZDF, Youku and France Televisions.

Jack Bootle, BBC head of commissioning at specialist factual, said: “Mammals are the most adaptable and, for my money, adorable animals on earth, and I can’t wait for viewers to learn more about the remarkable strategies they use to survive in every corner of the planet.” will air on BBC One and BBC iPlayer in the spring.