Permit relief for London operators
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• Hauliers worried about renewing their London lorry permits will be relieved to hear that the London Residuary Body (LRB) has settled on a simple renewal procedure.
There had been fears that all hauliers would need to complete full application forms in order to renew their existing permits, but in a letter to the FTA, Andy Szabo from the LRB says: "It will not be necessary to go through the full application procedure, 1 shall keep it as simple as possible."
During the next two months the LRB plans to send every haulier with lorries covered by the London permits a list of vehicles with active permits.
Hauliers will be asked to confirm whether the list is accurate and state whether they wish to renew the permits.
In his letter, Szabo admits that, "the budgetary provision is insufficient due to the cost of extraordinary items such as staff time to deal with the extension of 36,000 permits". He plans to use agency staff to meet the extra workload, and is looking at computer systems to speed the renewal process.
Szabo's office is not empowered to impose condiLions on hauliers applying for permit renewals. That power will be vested in a traffc committee currently being formed by the London boroughs.