A six-year-old woman and an grownup have been rushed to hospital following a automobile crash at a set of site visitors lights which had been broken in a ULEZ vandalism spree.
Five units of site visitors lights with cameras have been focused in an obvious protest in opposition to Sadiq Khan‘s ULEZ enlargement, which means they didn’t operate correctly and officers have been scrambled to direct site visitors manually.
Vigilantes additionally lined the enforcement cameras with stickers of the Mayor of London‘s face to additional reveal their anger.
Police have been known as shortly earlier than 8.30am on Thursday to experiences of a crash at one of many affected junctions on Court Road, Orpington, south-east London. The Met later accused ‘blade runner’ vandals of ‘placing the general public in danger’.
A resident of the world recalled listening to a whole lot of noise within the evening round 11:30pm and a loud crash at 8:30 this morning when the collision occurred.
One mom who lives close to the crash website mentioned: ‘I heard one thing within the evening however did not know what it was and did not suppose to look. This street is a nightmare.’
A six-year-old woman and an grownup have been rushed to hospital following a automobile crash at a set of site visitors lights which had been broken in a ULEZ vandalism spree. Pictured: A crashed automobile in Orpington
Vigilantes additionally lined the enforcement cameras with stickers of the Mayor of London’s face (pictured) to additional reveal their anger
Police have been known as shortly earlier than 8.30am on Thursday to experiences of a crash at one of many affected junctions on Court Road, Orpington, south-east London. It got here after site visitors lights have been ripped down (pictured) in a single day
One man who lives instantly reverse the crash famous he has seen a number of accidents within the space.
He mentioned: ‘I’ve lived right here for 3 years, and that is the seventh severe crash I’ve seen occur.
‘It is due to the site visitors lights individuals get so confused on this street about who has the correct of manner.’
The collision happened on Court street on the junction with Old Priory street.
It comes amid a scourge of comparable acts of vandalism throughout the capital because the scheme, designed to convey down air pollution, expanded to cowl the entire of Greater London in August.
A spokesperson for the Met Police mentioned 5 totally different units of site visitors lights have been broken in a single day, with photos exhibiting the poles being utterly reduce down.
Three junctions on Court Road, one on Cray Avenue and one on Station Road have been all focused.
Chief Inspector Priya Shome, primarily based in Bromley, mentioned: ‘We are investigating the legal harm to 5 units of site visitors lights within the Orpington space in a single day which has precipitated main site visitors administration points.
The collision happened on Court street on the junction with Old Priory street.
One man who lives instantly reverse the crash famous he has seen a number of accidents within the space
Poles of site visitors lights with ULEZ cameras connected have been utterly severed in a single day
Five units of site visitors lights with cameras have been vandalised in an obvious protest in opposition to Sadiq Khan ‘s ULEZ enlargement in Orpington
Multiple ambulance automobiles, police and a fireplace engine all rushed to the scene of the crash
‘Two police items, who ought to have been accessible to reply 999 calls, have been as a substitute required to spend the morning managing site visitors.
‘The people who find themselves finishing up this legal harm are placing the general public in danger. This morning, there was a collision between two automobiles on Court Road, on the location of one of many broken site visitors lights, wherein a baby was injured.
‘I’d urge the individuals finishing up these crimes to cease instantly and take into consideration the hazard they’re inflicting to street customers.’
A spokesperson added that that happily neither the grownup nor the kid injured within the crash suffered life-threatening accidents.
Pictures on social media confirmed a number of ambulances, police automobiles and a fireplace engine known as to the scene of 1 accident on Court Road on Thursday. There was additionally heavy congestion on the scene as automobiles tried to barter a busy junction with out efficient site visitors management.
Bromley councillor Graeme Casey, of the Liberal Democrats, mentioned: ‘Though some would attempt to excuse this behaviour as ‘very deep rooted’ make no mistake, that is useless unthinking vandalism with the potential for severe penalties.’
Vandals pulled down site visitors lights on each side of the road on Court Road
Officers this morning shared photographs of a downed site visitors gentle pole, which seems to have ULEZ digital camera connected to it, following a number of incidents in Petts Wood, Orpington
One of the posts focused in Orpington in a single day, which noticed site visitors chaos on Thursday morning after site visitors lights have been successfully disabled
Engineers attend the downed site visitors gentle and ULEZ digital camera in Petts Wood, south east London
The Metropolitan Police say the vandalism is ‘placing the general public in danger’
The second an anti-ULEZ ‘blade runner’ chopped down one of many hated London enforcement cameras with an angle grinder was lately caught on movie
He added: ‘These actions are placing in danger the lives of pedestrians and motorists.
‘They are taking on the dear time of our Police drive which might be higher spent coping with the present points Orpington faces. This is not protest, it’s senseless criminality.’
It got here after the Met additionally launched an investigation as lights have been additionally reduce down simply three miles away in Chislehurst at round 4am on Monday.
This incident adopted an analogous one every week beforehand wherein one other set of lights and cameras have been chopped down on Chislehurst High Street.
In a separate case, video footage emerged of a person dressed all in black utilizing an angle grinder to chop down a pole bearing a ULEZ digital camera.
The man, seemingly belonging to the activism group Blade Runners – who’re devoted to the elimination of ULEZ cameras – then topples the pole to the bottom.
Previously, a member of the notorious Blade Runners vowed to proceed destroying the Ulez cameras, telling the Mayor of London: ‘We will not cease till you cease. That’s the underside line.’
The group claims to be ratcheting up its assaults, focusing on to have hit 80 p.c of all cameras on the roads within the subsequent month.
In November a member of the group claimed to be liable for a close to black-out of cameras within the Bromley space, saying he alone had focused 150 at midnight.
In an interview with TalkTV, the father-of-three mentioned he goes out at midnight a number of days every week to hold out what he calls ‘unpaid voluntary work’.
A TfL spokesperson mentioned: ‘Vandalism is unacceptable and all incidents on our community are reported to the police for investigation.
‘Criminal harm to ULEZ cameras or automobiles places the perpetrators vulnerable to prosecution and harm, whereas concurrently risking the protection of the general public.
‘Camera vandalism won’t cease the ULEZ working London-wide. All vandalised cameras are repaired or changed as quickly as doable.
‘We have an in depth digital camera community which is ample to help the efficient operation of the scheme.
‘Anyone driving a non-compliant car inside the expanded zone will likely be detected and we advise everybody to test whether or not their car is compliant and to contemplate the varied help that’s accessible to assist transition to greener modes of transport.’