An MP is calling for the ULEZ charge to be suspended on train strike days amid renewed calls to scrap the controversial scheme altogether.

Dartford MP Gareth Johnson wants the Ultra-Low Emission Zone fee to be waived on days of industrial action in a bid to reduce the amount those living outside London pay to drive in.

The Tory backbencher has penned a letter to the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan once again asking him to rethink his expansion of the controversial charging scheme to the border with Kent.

Mr Johnson has described the daily charge as an “unfair tax” on working people which “hits the poorest hardest”.

He argues the £12.50 fee, levied on non-complaint vehicles driving in and out of the capital, is undemocratic as people in Kent were not able to have a say over it but are directly impacted every day.

Last month the Kent MP tabled a private members bill – a public bill introduced by MPs and Lords who are not government ministers – in the hoping of reversing the decision.

He said: “The London Mayor, Sadiq Khan has no mandate for this.

“Expanding ULEZ was not in his manifesto or in his transport strategy and the consultation on the expansion showed that people did not want it.

“It impacts people in Kent and other counties around London who cannot vote in or out the London Mayor. It’s a taxation without accountability.”

And now the parliamentarian has requested a meeting with the London Mayor to discus his bill and request a suspension of the the fee on strike days.

Mr Johnson said: “I have contacted Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London, to make the case that Dartfordians should not be charged the ULEZ fee nor should anyone on strike days.

“I don't expect a positive response, but I don't see why we should be subject to the charge when we have no say on who the London Mayor is.

“This taxation on Dartfordians hits those who can least afford it the most.”

The Bill, which is having its second reading in Parliament on March 22, would reverse the ULEZ expansion and seek to return the charging zone to that previously in force.

It would also give the Secretary of State the power to veto any further attempt by this Mayor, or any future Mayor, to reintroduce this, or any similar charging scheme in the future.

Since the expanded ULEZ came into force on August 29, 2023, anyone who drives a car into London which does not meet the emissions rules has to pay £12.50 a day.”

ULEZ was controversially expanded in August to cover the capital’s outer boroughs including Bexley and Bromley up to the border with Dartford and Sevenoaks.

The Mayor Sadiq Khan defended his decision which he says was difficult but “necessary” in order to tackle London’s toxic air causing premature deaths.