A London driver has bought a £500 number plate - which reads 'NO 02 ULZ' in protest against ULEZ zone expansion.   

Ross Carnague-Winchcombe, 41, knows the personalised plate is "illegal".  

He said he's "so annoyed" by the London clean air charge he's putting it on his Fiat 500 in protest.   

Ross, from Tiddington, Oxfordshire said: "The number plate is spaced illegally to appear to say NO 02 ULZ.  

"I'm sure the police will dislike it."   

Ross is a funeral director and regularly works in London.   

He said he is now having to pass the extra ULEZ cost (£12.50 a day) onto bereaved families.   

Ross claimed he tried to get funereal vehicles exempt but had no luck.  

advertisement

He said: "Having business in London is hard enough with the price of everything going up.   

"We are a small family-run funeral directors with three shops, two hearses and two limousines - all of which are modern but non-compliant.   

"[Sadiq] Khan offered a £9,000 scrappage allowance for each vehicle.   

"To replace all four would be approximately £360,000 -10 times more than was being offered.   

Ross bought the plate 'N0 02 ULZ' in protest of Sadiq Khan's ULEZ zone expansion (credit: Barney Riley/SWNS).

"These costs will have to be passed on to our families, a lot of which are struggling to cope with the situation they are in as well as the cost-of-living crisis we find ourselves in."   

Ross tried to contact TFL about exempting his hearse from the ULEZ charge, but they said no.  

He said: "Sadly they weren't interested."   

Ross posted about his new number plate on Facebook, calling it the "best £500 I've spent".   

It's currently on his Volkswagen Amarok but will soon be transferred to his Fiat 500 - which is ULEZ compliant.  

Ross said: "The compliance for the Fiat was luck, not judgement.   

"The Fiat currently has my mother-in-law's private plate on, which she would like back.   

"So, we decided to buy this to show everyone what we think about Khan's decision."   

The ULEZ zone expanded on August 29 to the whole of London.  

The move has been met with criticism and even vigilantism in some parts of the capital.   

So-called 'Blade Runners' have taken to vandalising cameras to make them inoperable.