Foreign HGVs owe £6m for unpaid LEZ breaches
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By Christopher Walton FOREIGN-registered HGVs owe Transport for London (TfL) more than £6m in unpaid ines for breaches of Low Emission Zone (LEZ) regulations since the environmental legislation was introduced in February 2008.
According to information obtained exclusively by CM via the Freedom of Information Act, UKregistered HGVs have £3.4mworth of outstanding penalty charge notices (PCNs) for not meeting the relevant emissions criteria, or not paying the relevant charge to enter the LEZ in a noncompliant vehicle. Foreign-registered vehicles have £6.2m.
With the LEZ standard set to rise to a Euro-5 minimum for HGVs entering the zone after 3 January 2012, the igures show the enormity of the task facing TfL in enforcing the largest LEZ in Europe.
When the LEZ went live in the capital on 1 February 2008, CVs needed to meet a Euro-3 standard for particulate matter emissions in order to enter the zone.
Cameras read number plates as vehicles enter the LEZ, which are checked against a VOSA, Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) and DVLA-formed database of registered vehicles.
PCNs of £1,000 are issued to vehicles either not meeting the standard or to vehicles not registered with TfL, even if they do meet the emission standards. There are 117,000 foreign vehicles registered with the LEZ.
In 11 months in 2008, UK-registered vehicles were issued with £7.2m-worth of PCNs, and only £44,000 of which remains outstanding. Foreign-registered vehicles were issued with £1.1m of ines in the same period, with £193,000 of outstanding PCNs remaining (see p7).
Moving forward to 2010, UKregistered HGVs received £2.3mworth of PCNs for LEZ breaches, with £793,000 still outstanding. Foreign-registered HGVs received £3.8m-worth of ines, but £2.3m remains outstanding.
In the seven months to 31 July this year, UK-registered HGVs have £971,000-worth of outstand
ing PCNs, while foreign-registered HGVs have £2m-worth of outstanding ines.
Paul Cowperthwaite, head of contracted services for trafic enforcement at TfL, acknowledges the outstanding ines remain an issue: “Recovering unpaid penalties incurred by vehicles registered in some countries can be problematic and is a UK-wide problem.
“TfL has arrangements in place with a Europe-wide debt recovery agency for the service of PCNs to recover penalties incurred by nonUK-registered vehicles.
“Through this agency, TfL has established links with many of the European vehicle licensing agencies, and will always issue and recover penalties in relation to nonUK-registered vehicles where it is possible to do so.” Natalie Chapman, the Freight Transport Association’s head of policy for London, says: “With additional volume of foreign-registered and domestic vehicles expected during next year’s Olympics, TfL should recoup the millions of pounds it is owed in unpaid ines. Otherwise the burden is being unfairly shouldered by law-abiding drivers and companies that comply with LEZ requirements.”
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