Ulez blade runners strike again: Campaigners against hated CCTV enforcing Sadiq Khan's £12.50-a-day eco tax attack another camera - and replace it with a Christmas tree

The campaigners against Sadiq Khan’s hated £12.50-a-day eco tax, called blade runners, have attacked another one of the scheme’s enforcement cameras – and replaced it with a Christmas tree.

The CCTV camera on Erith Road, just off the Barnehurst Road roundabout, in Bexleyheath, south-east London was cut down recently.

Previously, a member of the infamous Blade Runners gang vowed to continue destroying the ULEZ cameras – telling the Mayor of London: ‘We won’t stop until you stop. That’s the bottom line.’

Pictures taken today show the blade runners chose to replace the camera with a Christmas tree.

In an interview with Talk TV back in November last year, the masked blade runner – who uses Ben as a fake name – claimed to have wrecked 150 of the traffic cameras since they were expanded across the capital’s boroughs on August 29.

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The CCTV camera on Erith Road, just off the Barnehurst Road roundabout, in Bexleyheath, South East London was cut down recently

The Ulez camera being put in by a worker

The aftermath of the blade runner attack on the Ulez camera

The father-of-three, aged in his forties, said he goes out in the dead of night several days a week flouting the law to carry out what he calls ‘unpaid voluntary work’.

Ben claims he’s behind a near total blackout of enforcement cameras in the Bromley area, one of the Greater London boroughs where the scheme has been extended.

Ben insists support among the public is widespread with many hailing them as heroes, saying, ‘We are the voice of the people. You experienced the cheers against ULEZ right there and then you can see we are reflecting the voice of the public.’

Ben – who has been a member of the group for several months, and says membership is growing – said: ‘It started off as a small group of people and it has gradually grown.

‘Since the expansion went live on August 29, numbers have increased significantly. We’re like a pack of lone wolves. We sometimes work together, we work in isolation, and we all have this common goal.’

Ben also said mayor Sadiq Khan is targeting the most vulnerable people at the worst possible time as they struggle through a cost of living crisis.

He explained: ‘The members of society that have less disposable income are hit the hardest because if they can’t afford to change their vehicle, they’ll be subject to that daily charge no matter what.

He claimed the ULEZ network has been installed to ‘catch everyone out’.

Ben said: ‘It seems like the Mayor’s office and the Government are not doing anything for the people. Unfair is just sort of scratching the surface on how bad it is for them. It’s terrible. It’s completely unjust.’

Another angle of a Ulez camera being installed

In an interview with Talk TV in November last year, the masked blade runner – who uses Ben as a fake name – claimed to have wrecked 150 of the traffic cameras since they were expanded across the capital’s boroughs on August 29

Ben, wearing a balaclava and hood, is seen in the footage using an angle-grinder to cut down a Ulez camera mounted on a traffic light in just four seconds.

Asked if he could see any merit in ULEZ tackling the dangerously high air pollution levels, he said: ‘If the figures and the statements that Sadiq Khan made were true then of course there would be merit but he doesn’t speak the truth about anything.’

Asked if he sees anything wrong with being a vigilante, Ben replied: ‘I never expected to be part of anything like this and taking these kind of steps. We don’t disrupt the general public in their daily activities, we don’t block roads, we don’t glue ourselves to buildings, the floor – we target the camera network itself.

‘I can see how it could be viewed as being incorrect but lawful rebellion is totally okay in my book,’ adding he would go to prison for the cause, saying, ‘It’s a risk I’m prepared to take and do take.’

He revealed he has taken down over 150 enforcement cameras alone, and vowed those numbers ‘will continue to go up’.

London Minister Paul Scully responded to the interview by saying: ‘I can understand the frustration but I can’t condone the vandalism. You can’t pick and choose the laws you want to adhere to.

‘Nonetheless Sadiq Khan has shown through all of this that he is just not listening.

‘I’ve got one camera near to where I live that just points towards the entrance of the Royal Marsden cancer hospital.’

MailOnline has contacted the Metropolitan Police and TfL for comment.