FTA asks London mayor to revise Low Emission Zone plan
The United Kingdom’s Freight Transport Association has asked London Mayor Ken Livingstone to reconsider plans for the introduction of a Low Emission Zone for trucks in Greater London.
The proposed LEZ, due to come into effect in 2008, will include daily charges for older, more polluting heavy goods vehicles that are below Euro 3 emission standards. Stricter rules are planned to be implemented between 2008 and 2012.
In a letter to the mayor, the FTA said a system based on the age of vehicles, at seven or eight years, would ensure that more modern Euro 4 and Euro 5 engines would deliver a reduction in pollution.
The FTA also told Livingstone that the scheme’s inclusion of proposals for older vehicles to be retrofitted with replacement engines was “simply unworkable and demonstrates a worrying unfamiliarity with both the industry and the technology.”
According to the FTA, fitting particulate traps onto older vehicles has been found to fail with many operators removing such equipment due to poor operational experience.
“The FTA has developed innovative proposals that are simpler to understand and implement, will deliver wider environmental benefits, including setting a course for a biofuels strategy, but not rely on a Heath Robinson-esque retrofit strategy of bolting on second-hand engines from scrapyards. All this can be achieved at significantly lower cost to industry and, ultimately, Londoners,” said James Hookham, deputy chief executive at the FTA.
The FTA will take part in the next round of consultations taking place later this year.