Solihull gets ready for LEZ with new filters
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SOLIHULL TRANSPORT has fitted three of its trucks with particulate filters to meet the changes in London’s Low Emissions Zone (LEZ), which became effective on 3 January, and avoid the £200 daily fine.
The LEZ changes, which were introduced by Transport for London (TfL), mean that any vehicle weighing more than 3.5 tonnes and registered before 1 October 2006 either requires a particulate filter to meet the minimum Euro-4 requirement or needs to be replaced.
MD Neil Crossley says fitting particulate traps was a commercial decision based on how many times its 25 vehicles go into the LEZ, against how much it is going to cost to be compliant. The conversion will mean the vehicles will be kept for two to three years longer. “For us, work inside the LEZ is about 15% to 20% [of the total workload]. We held off buying new vehicles because of the recession, but we are now playing catch up,” he says.
LEZ is a bone of contention for Crossley, who sees it as another tax for hauliers. “It’s financially unnecessary and TfL isn’t doing it across the board with buses and cars. There is no financial gain, only financial loss,” he says.
The conversion work was carried out by independent Midlands Scania dealer Keltruck, through its Willenhall depot, and done at short notice. Three Scania trucks, a 2004 R470 6x2/4, a 2006 P230 4x2 and a 2005 R124 6x2/4, were converted with particulate filters to reduce PM emissions to Euro-4 levels.
AN OLIVE BRANCH
In December 2011, TfL announced a four-week amnesty for operators whose vehicles had not been converted before the deadline; operators must prove that they ordered retrofit systems before the 3 January deadline.