A Twickenham resident has suffered further delays in the ULEZ scrappage scheme after a government-approved scrap dealer issued the wrong certificate of destruction.

Mr Birch-Prendergast has been trying to get a new vehicle under the ULEZ scrappage scheme since 20 August.

His application was rejected four times, as a result of an 'administrative error' on behalf of TFL.

At the time, his mother, Julia Birch said: "If he doesn't get accepted it will affect him immensely - either he'll have to pass the cost on to clients or front the cost himself which wouldn't be ideal because obviously everyone is in financial difficulty anyway.

"He basically can't leave the front door without having to be charged £12.50 each day on top of everything else. He wants to get a compliant van so that he can continue to trade."

Now, his application has been accepted and Samuel was offered a grant of £7000.

Subsequently, his van has now been scrapped but TFL withdrew the application again, following an ' irregularities with the content of the certificate of destruction'.

This means that Sam will have to wait a further 10 days for the cheque to come through, leaving him without a van for longer than anticipated.

TFL said: "We contacted Mr Birch-Prendergast yesterday to explain that the Certificate of Destruction provided by the facility was for a different vehicle, which he understands.

"He has since obtained a replacement and we are arranging for the funds allocated to be approved."

Julia said: "Sam has had a reply back from TFL.

"The VIN number on V5 didn't match the number on certificate of destruction. This was due to an admin error at Northwich Metals, a government-approved scrap dealer."

"It has subsequently been reissued & uploaded to Tfl."

She added that now the application has been accepted again and the grant will be funded.

She said: "The certificate of destruction was issued in error & has subsequently been re-issued & uploaded.

"TfL also contacted the Scrappage company directly to confirm authentication."