ULEZ One year on for business - All downside, no upside

Our business

 We are coming up to the 1st anniversary of the implementation of ULEZ on the 29th August. At the time I raised many concerns as to it's effect on my business and the sector we work in, the music industry. I wrote a blog giving my thoughts on the matter last July. I also wrote to the Mayor (no reply) and raised concerns with my assembly member Anne Clarke (no reply). In fact, I was indirectly insulted by the Mayor of London, who simply said that anyone complaining didn't care about the lungs of vulnerable children. If I was a millionaire, this may be a fair criticism, as a business owner, struggling to recover from the pandemic and who's cash reserves have been wiped out, it is a bit rich from a man on a big salary, funded by my taxes. 

So how has ULEZ affected my business and my customers. What are the upsides and what are the downsides? Lets look at a few effects and start by looking at our business and customers.

My business, Mill Hill Music Complex is a music studio based in Mill Hill, North West London, on the edge of the ULEZ zone. Historically, our customer base is around a 15 mile radius North into Hertfordshire (Borehamwood, St Albans, Watford, etc) and a five mile radius south (down to the North Circular generally). Historically, approx 65% of customers are south based and 35% are based north (outside of ULEZ).

Our customers are by and large working pro, semi pro and amatuer musicians. The pro and semi pro musicians generally have their own equipment, which they transport to rehearsals and gigs in large cars and vans. The vast majority of such musicians are not particularly wealthy and so drive non compliant vehicles historically. The ubiquitous Ford Transit is a big part of the story of most bands, ferryingthem to rehearsals and gigs. The economics of the music industry means most of these are old an battered. It may be a cliche, but it is, by and large true.

Many have stopped playing in London as the tiny margins they operate on have been severely affected by ULEZ. If you are doing a gig in London, often you will have to pay ULEZ twice, as you go home after midnight. This means that the first £25 you earn from a gig goes to TFL. If youa re a four piece getting £600 for a gig, then by the time you pay ULEZ and parking you've lost a third of your fee. The less bands gig, the less they rehearse. 

Whilst many of our customers from the south will use public transport, this is not practical for many in Hertfordshire, unless they are close to Thameslink. When a band has four members and live in Hertfordshire, travelling by public transport to rehearsals is not partcularly feasible.  This means that when a band books a reheasal in Mill Hill, on top of the room booking fee, they have an extra £12.50 per vehicle to add to the cost. This makes us uncompetetive with studios based elsewhere in Hertfordshire. Loyal customers who have been coming for years have moved on. Of course not all have old bangers, and for some there is convenience etc, but as a rough estimate, we've lost around 35% of our business from North of ULEZ. This means that we've lost around 15% of our income, directly from the change. Our business has tried to operate on a 25% profit margin after costs. We try very hard to keep costs down to the musicians who use our business. Over the last two years, with the rises in energy prices, minimum wage and rates increases, we have seen a 15% increase in base costs. Combine this with ULEZ and we have the 25% completely gobbled up. 

The only saving grace is that since lockdown, most of our competetors have gone. This has partially mitigated this loss, but if we do better than break even this year it will be an achievement.

Then there is the effect on the business. I own a non complaint Ford Galaxy, that we use for deliveries and collecting supplies from the cash and carry. Every time I use this, it costs the business £12.50. Ford do not make the model anymore, and the ULEZ compliant later models are expensive. We have made our cash and carry visits bi weekly, which has cut the ULEZ chare from £625 to £312.5 per annum, but it is still an expense. We pass on the cost to customers for delivery of PA systems, which again makes us less competetive, but is hard to quantify. Many of our PA hire customers are schools and charities. They are picking up the costs. A ULEZ compliant Galaxy costs around £8,000. It is actually c heaper to pay the charge as it would take five to ten years to get our money back. So we still pump out fumes and the Mayor makes his money.

Then there are the people who work for us. Window cleaners, plumbers, decorators, etc. Many who have old vans and plenty of work and are based inHertforshire, have stopped working in the ULEZ zone. They simply consider it too much hassle. This means we have had to engage new suppliers, who are invariably more expensive. 

Every business I know in Mill Hill has suffered some sort of impact from ULEZ, all are struggling after the Pandemic. The sad truth is that the Mayor of London does not care at all about the health of businesses. Money we could be investing in growning our business, employing more staff and helping keep London at the forefront of the worlds music scene has simply disappeared. If you raise it with anyone in the Labour party, you just get insulted for your efforts. I've not had a pay rise for the last five years from my business. all the cash is just keeping us afloat. I am lucky that I can still take a wage at all, this is only possible by trimming everything in the business to the bone. If we raise prices too high, then many of our customers simply can't afford to rehearse and record. Of course we have plenty of customers who can afford to pay higher rates, but if we squeeze out the young musicians, without a secondary source of income, we are not doing our job and we didn't start the business only to serve those with deep pockets. London has a nightime Tzar called Amy Lame, who the Mayor appointed when he got the gig. She has done nothing to raise these concerns. One day, we will find that London has no music scene. You will know who to blame.