Traffic & Transport
Sadiq Khan may give up armoured car as part of clampdown on SUVs in London | London
The London mayor, Sadiq Khan, has said he would be encouraging the Met to abandon his armoured car in favour of a smaller vehicle as he signalled a clampdown on driving SUVs in London.
Khan and Transport for London are considering options including additional charges on outsize vehicles to tackle the increasing numbers of SUVs on London’s roads, primarily to address road safety but also to address concerns about parking and congestion.
The mayor said: “If you look at what the preliminary evidence is, large SUVs are more likely to kill a child.”
While Khan said he did not own an SUV, he is usually escorted for security on official business by protection officers in a large police vehicle.
The mayor said: “Yes, of course, I have an armoured vehicle. But if that’s the evidence, I think it’s a message I’ll be sending to the police as well, saying actually, you do realise, God forbid, if you hit a child in an SUV, you’re more likely to kill that child.
“It’s worth everyone thinking about that. And not just, you know, ordinary Londoners, but the police as well.”
Speaking in east London at the launch of an updated Vision Zero plan to eliminate road deaths, Khan said any policy would only be proposed after further “detailed analysis” and that he did not want to prejudice the outcome.
But he added: “I know, though, that if you are a child hit by a large SUV, you’re 77% more likely to be killed; if you’re under nine, three times more likely to be killed. That’s a source of concern to me.”
The mayor said he had also instructed TfL to consider the “impact across the piste” from SUVs, particularly in relation to congestion. “There’s been a massive increase in people buying and using these larger SUVs in London. There aren’t many farms in London or off-road driving,” he said.
The consequences of more SUVs could “absolutely” include slowing down London’s bus network, Khan added, with vehicles too wide to pass on narrow streets.
He said: “Parking spaces are smaller than these large SUVs. That causes huge challenges. We know, for example, some of our side roads simply aren’t wide enough to have two vehicles, going past each other, particularly if one of them is a larger SUV.
“In car parks, often a large SUV takes up more than the space allocated to it. So these are real-life consequences. London wasn’t designed for large SUVs.”
TfL’s chief safety, health and environment officer, Lilli Matson, said it was gathering evidence but there was a worrying trend in disproportionately lethal collisions involving SUVs.
Part of the work will be creating a definition for SUVs, with vehicle weight and dimensions likely to be considered. Manufacturers have increased the size of the average car, but it is understood that TfL and city hall will not target smaller SUVs such as the popular Nissan Qashqai, focusing only on the largest models.
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), an industry lobby group, said measures could “unfairly penalise” some drivers.
The SMMT chief executive, Mike Hawes, said: “Every car sold in the UK, regardless of size is certified to exacting safety and pedestrian protection standards … Manufacturers also invest billions in advanced safety technology.
“Singling out specific cars based on size restricts consumer choice and would unfairly penalise the many drivers who require a larger vehicle for essential mobility.”
Tackling SUVs is one of 43 measures in the safety plan, and Matson said cutting speed limits would be the most critical. “Reducing speeds on London’s roads and people sticking to speed limits will make a really significant difference not only to saving lives, but also to making it feel safer and feel more like a city where you want to walk and cycle,” she said.
Top speeds on London’s remaining fastest outer roads, such as the North Circular, will be changed to a default 40mph instead of 50mph, on any stretches with side roads, bus stops or residential housing.
I enjoyed Polly Hudson’s wisdom on marriage (I know it’s taboo – but I’m a big fan of marriage, 9 June). However, I think she was fundamentally wrong when she wrote: “The haters say marriage is ‘just a piece of paper’, which is fundamentally true”. That would be like saying my degree is only the certificate. In both cases the significance is that which it points towards – something no physical object can truly capture.
Rev Martin Joss
Peterborough
Allow me, a number theorist, to lend support to Ian Harley (Letters, 10 June), and make some sense of the phrase “such fun’’ for Steve Lupton (Letters, 11 June). Many scientists start with fun and enjoyment when young, followed by agony and frustration in their research, but always sustained by the beauty and amazement of their discoveries.
Peter Shiu
Sheffield
David Smith concludes that the US president “has too much power for someone with so little connection to reality” (As Donald Trump turns 80, he faces a foe he can never defeat: Father Time. That’s a problem for us all, 14 June). Doubly worrying that the same can be said of the world’s first trillionaire.
Mark de Brunner
Harrogate, North Yorkshire
Further to Sally Goldsmith’s “Is this bus going to Jump” (Letters, 10 June), a Welsh friend who used to visit me in Manchester would say, “I’ve just seen a bus for Sale”.
Julian Dorr
Wymondham, Norfolk
In the 1970s, the Bradford Argus always called David Hockney: “The mayor of Bradford’s brother” (David Hockney obituary, 12 June).
Angela Singer
Cambridge
So Julian of Norwich was table-turning? Since when has mysticism been a synonym for a belief in the occult (Quick crossword, 9 June). Saints’ bones will be turning in their tombs.
Christopher Cook
Deal, Kent
I see an alarming trend in your report (9 June). It seems “children are more likely to be bitten by dogs than adults”. Please can you publish the number of incidents of children being bitten by adults?
Vee Singleton
Framlingham, Suffolk
Unless a valid reason is given for denying the referee Omar Artan entry to the US, the other World Cup referees should go on strike (Top African referee Omar Artan refused access to US and will miss World Cup, 8 June).
Frank Cosgrove
Presteigne, Powys
I read Ian Harley’s letter (10 June) about the nine times table and other number bases carefully. I think I understood most of it. The bit I really could not make any sense of was the last phrase: “Such fun.”
Steve Lupton
Prestwich, Greater Manchester
As a Speke lad, I know that the train to Speke would never speak (Letters, 10 June), because there isn’t one – we don’t have a railway station. However, the joke I grew up with was: “What is the quickest way to get a parrot to speak?” The answer: “On an 82 bus.”
Rev Frank Cain
Liverpool
I had a similar quip after running for a bus, when I asked the driver if he was the No 1, as I hadn’t checked. He replied that his wife thought so.
Ann Spencer
Newcastle upon Tyne
Traffic & Transport
Sole survivor of Air India crash demands ‘honesty and answers’ one year on | Air India Ahmedabad plane crash
The only survivor of the Air India plane crash that killed 260 people in June 2025 has called for “honesty, transparency and answers” a year on from the disaster, and spoken about his “significant psychological scars” and financial hardship.
Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, a British national, has previously described his fate as a “miracle” after being the only person to survive the incident, in which a Boeing 787 Dreamliner struck a medical college shortly after taking off from Ahmedabad airport.
The crash killed 241 people onboard the London-bound flight, including 169 Indian nationals and 52 Britons, as well as 19 people who were on or near the site of the incident. A further 67 were seriously injured.
Ramesh, who lost his brother in the crash, demanded answers as investigators are yet to publish their findings. Last month, India’s civil aviation minister said the investigation was in the “last stage” and the report would “mostly” be finished by the anniversary of the crash, on 12 June.
Exactly 30 days after the crash last year, the Indian authorities released a preliminary report, which was in line with standard procedure. It found both of the plane’s fuel switches had moved to the “cut-off” position “immediately” after take-off, stopping fuel supply to the engine.
Speaking to the Press Association, Ramesh said there were more “unanswered questions” he wanted addressed, and that his trauma had not ended on the day of the crash. “I live with the significant psychological scars, the loss of my brother, and the constant unanswered questions around how and why this happened,” he said.
“I know those questions are not just on my mind; they are on the minds of every affected family. More than anything, people need honesty, transparency and answers. Nothing will ever change what happened, but families deserve clarity.”
Ramesh has received £21,500 from Air India to support his wife and five-year-old son, according to his representative, Sanjiv Patel, but continues to face financial hardship as well as psychological and emotional.
“We’ve repeatedly asked to meet the chief executive of Air India but that has not happened,” Patel said. “We recently met with executives of Air India and representatives connected to the Tata Group [which has a controlling stake in the business].
“Those discussions were constructive and have resulted in some positive progress, although a number of important issues remain under discussion.”
Patel said that, due to the impact of the crash, Ramesh had not been able to return to work as normal and his family was living on less than £1,000 a month.
Ramesh is also taking civil action. Patel said: “Despite one of the worst aviation disasters involving British citizens in recent years, neither Vishwash nor many of the affected families we have spoken to have received any direct contact or tailored support from the UK government.”
An Air India spokesperson confirmed that representatives from Air India and the Tata Group had met Ramesh, and remained in “close contact” with him and his team. The company said they were “actively working to ensure that appropriate support continues to be extended to him”.
Paul McClorry at Hudgell Solicitors said civil claims were being considered against a number of potential defendants. “We are awaiting the findings of the investigations, and we should finally start to see some clarity as to how and why this awful disaster happened, and, crucially, how it could have been avoided,” he said.
The UK Foreign Office has been approached for comment.
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