Palace charity advises visitors how they can sneak around ULEZ cameras

31 August 2023 , 17:47

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The charity managing Hampton Court Palace is advising visitors how to avoid ultra-low emission zone (Ulez) fees (Image: Getty Images)

The charity managing Hampton Court Palace is advising visitors how to avoid ultra-low emission zone (ULEZ) fees despite entering the expanded area.

Historic Royal Palaces said drivers who turn left out of the south-west London site's car park "will not be seen" by the scheme's cameras. Drivers who enter the ULEZ area in vehicles that do not meet minimum emissions standards are required to pay a £12.50 daily fee.

The zone was expanded on Tuesday to cover the whole of Greater London in what mayor of London Sadiq Khan said was a vital measure to improve air quality. The road leading into Hampton Court Palace's car park remains outside the Ulez area, but the one vehicles use when leaving the site is inside it.

On Thursday morning, the Plan Your Journey section of the palace's website said: "The exit of the car park onto Hampton Court Road emerges into the charging zones. However, left-turning, non-compliant cars exiting the palace car park back out of London will not be seen by ULEZ camera (located further north along the road) unless they re-enter the ULEZ zone elsewhere with a non-compliant vehicle. While the positioning of any camera could change, TfL (Transport for London) has no future plans to review this location."

The information had been removed from the website by Thursday afternoon, but Historic Royal Palaces tweeted that visitors who turn left out of the car park "will not be seen by the enforcement camera and will not be charged".

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A HRP spokesperson told the Mirror claims it had told people to "turn left to avoid charges is inaccurate: the exit is left turn only". They added: "Our guidance (which is still on the website, with amended wording...) simply advises that it is unlikely that visitors driving out of that exit and then away from London will incur charges".

In a further statement, HRP said: "Our priority is to continue to provide clear information for visitors, to inform the decisions they make about travel to and from Hampton Court Palace. We will continue to work with TFL to ensure that we provide the most up to date information on this." TfL has installed almost 1,900 ULEZ cameras in the expanded area.

These are used to charge drivers of non-compliant vehicles signed up for automatic payments, and issue £180 fines to those who have not enrolled in the programme and fail to pay the daily fee when required. Hampton Court Palace, on the north bank of the River Thames in the borough of Richmond upon Thames, was a residence of King Henry VIII and his six wives. It attracts more than half a million visitors a year.

Neil Lancefield