ULEZ used for SNOOPING: Sadiq Khan has already granted Met Police access to new cameras in London

Campaign groups have hit out at Sadiq Khan for ‘playing with the privacy of London’s inhabitants’ after it emerged he has already granted the Met Police access to new cameras installed for the ULEZ expansion.

The Mayor of London granted TfL the power to give the Met access to additional Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras last year when he faced serious backlash from privacy groups and opposing councillors.

More than 300 ANPR cameras were recently installed, while a total of 2,750 are set to be added by the official launch date on August 29 later this year. 

It also emerged earlier this month that Mr Khan’s officials had secretly ordered hundreds of enforcement cameras before the public voted to reject the project.

Mr Khan’s plans have been somewhat controversial, with London Assembly member Sian Berry (Green) launching a legal challenge against the move with Open Rights Group, a privacy campaigning organisation, and law firm Bindmans, in August last year.

In an update provided to TFL’s audit and assurance committee, which met on Wednesday, a statement said: ‘The Met Police Service are currently working to complete their assessment of which additional cameras they want access to and what the privacy and equalities impacts of that would be, for submission to TfL, prior to any access being given.’

Sophia Akram, policy manager at Open Rights Group, hit back at the mayor’s decision to implement more surveillance on people in the capital. 

‘Sadiq Khan chose to push through his decision to grant the Metropolitan Police access to ANPR data without public consultation, playing with the privacy of London’s inhabitants,’ she told MailOnline.

Source of data and images: dailymail